A Halfa and A Genius
by Batman Lamp-Writer
Summary: Danny PhantomNUMB3RS crossover(Not as bad as summary)A ghost decides to get back at Danny in the weirdest (and gorey-est)way possible:he's going around killing other people.Danny's gonna need some help with this.But from who?
1. The Dream

A/N: Okay, I'm posting this as a prize to myself for getting the fifth chappy of Changes of Heart out. Lol. Anyway, IMPORTANT NOTE AT THE END! That said, enjoy!

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"Guys!" raven-haired, blue-eyed, 14-year-old Danny Fenton yelled as he ran over to his two best friends. "Hey, guys! You won't _believe_ what happened last night!"

"You got a new ghost power?" asked Tucker Foley, Danny's African-American friend, and one of the _very_ few people who knew about Danny's ghost-half. He had abandoned his PDA to hear Danny's news. He turned his blue-green eyes to his friend while adjusting his red cap and thick glasses.

"The ghosts have decided to leave you alone?" Sam Manson, Danny's friend-who-happened-to-be-a-girl, suggested. She too knew about his ghost problems. Her black hair and violet eyes gave her that Goth-look she liked _so_ much.

"In order: Not that I know of, and I wish!" Danny said, sighing. "Look, guys, I had this weird dream about a math convention—"

"_Math convention? **YOU?**_ Wow, that _is_ weird!" Tuck exclaimed.

"Thanks, Tuck, I really needed that. Anyway, at the end of the convention some guy named Dr. O'Nearpath started talking to about nine others about _Inviso-Bill_."

"They were talking about _you?_"

"Yes, Tucker," Danny said angrily. "_Anyway_, most of the people didn't believe him, but one person did. Someone named Charlie Eppes."

"_The_ Charlie Eppes?" Sam asked. "As in Charlie Eppes, the person who helps his older brother Don and the FBI by solving math equations pertaining to the cases they're working on?"

"Uh, I guess," Danny answered. "How do you know so much about him?"

"Honestly, don't you two read?"

"Not really," Danny and Tucker replied.

"So, um, Dr. Eppes believed Dr. O'Nearpath for some weird reason. Then, some guy who already knew Dr. Eppes—"

"That would probably be his friend, Larry Fleinhardt," Sam said.

"Right. So, Dr. Fleinhardt tells Dr. Eppes that there's no such thing as ghosts—"

Tuck snorted, "Yeah, right!"

"—Dr. Eppes turns back to him and said that mathematically, there _are_ ghosts. No clue how, but yeah. He also said that he'd seen one before."

"Oh? Which one?" Tuck asked.

"I'm getting there! He started describing the ghost, and it sounded a _lot_ like Skulker. Then, at the very end, something said, 'They'll believe soon enough. O'Nearpath is first, he's expendable.' Then, there was some laughing—"

"Maniacal laughing, or 'someone-just-told-a-funny-joke' laughing?"

"Definitely maniacal. And the name kept echoing over and over. That's when I woke up."

"Wow," Tuck and Sam said.

"But," Sam said, "it sounds like Dr. O'Nearpath is in trouble!"

"Huh?" the two boys questioned.

Sam sighed in annoyance. "Whatever that _thing_ was, I think it's gonna kill Dr. O'Nearpath!"

"That 'thing' was a ghost," Danny answered. "Probably a new one. He looked vaguely familiar…"

"You mean you _saw _him?" Sam asked.

"Only for, like, two seconds!"

"Well, what did he look like?"

"I don't remember! All I remember is that he looked familiar!"

"Oh."

"But, it's probably nothing—" Danny was cut off by his "ghost-sense". "Guys, I'll be back in a little bit."

"The excuse?" Sam asked.

"I bought lunch."

Sam and Tuck winced at the thought. "Good one." They headed towards their next class. Danny, on the other hand, ran into an empty classroom.

"I'm goin' ghost!" he said. The two rings appeared at his waist, one going up, the other going down, transforming him into Danny Phantom a.k.a. Inviso-Bill. He flew out through the wall and found himself face-to-face with someone he had fought many times before.

"Skulker," Danny said angrily. Skulker just grinned.

"Ah, Ghost-Child," he said, "so, you _did_ come." His glowing blade appeared. "Well, you'll be coming with me now."

"Actually, no I won't." Danny looked around. There were at least twenty people walking around, not noticing the impending fight. "I'm not going without a fight."

"Alright, then." Skulker started coming at Danny, who backed up in fright.

"But not here! There's too many people here!"

"Of course. The Ghost-Child doesn't want to hurt innocent people. How noble," Skulker said sarcastically. "Where will we fight, then?"

Danny got a great idea. "Follow me."

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Outside LA

They came to an empty lot just outside of the LA city borders. Danny stopped, but Skulker kept going. When he noticed his prey had halted, he went back.

"So," he said, "we'll fight here? Aren't you worried about the innocent people who live there?" He pointed towards the city.

"That's why I'm making some rules," Danny replied.

"Who says I'll follow them?"

"You _know_ how Walker is about rules."

"…Right."

"So, here are the rules: 1) no attacking innocent people, 2) no going within the city, and 3) we're fighting invisibly. Got it?"

"Yes, now let's start!"

Skulker and Danny went invisible and began their fight. They started out by firing ectoplasm at the other. It didn't work too well, considering they really couldn't see each other. They both flew back to the middle of the lot and fought physically, kicking and punching and occasionally shooting more ectoplasm. Slowly, the area around them was being torn apart and destroyed. They kept fighting for a few hours before both fell to the ground.

"Time out," Danny said, panting, still invisible, and trying to maintain his ghost-form. He looked around and gasped at the mess. "I'm in **_so_** much trouble!"

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A/N: Yay! Okay, um, I have a now-official update schedule! Here it is:

Fridays- Changes of Heart

Saturdays- Dad's Letter

Sundays- A Halfa and A Genius

If I update, it's gonna be on one of those days! Some stories may come out on a day other than when they are scheduled, depending upon how much time I have during the week. Bye, y'all!


	2. Big Trouble

A/N: I'm baaaaaack! Um, yeah. Next chappy!

REVIEW RESPONSES:

**SF: **I know! I hope so, too… er, I mean, of course it will!

**Grey Raven North: **thanx! Charlie comes in in this chappy! I know! I had a feeling that no one else who liked DP even knew what NUMB3RS was. This is great! Thanx again, and if you have any ideas, they'd be much appreciated!

Okay, here's the next chappy!

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Charlie Eppes, a well-known, brown, curly-haired, brown eyed, math genius and teacher, believes in ghosts. Or, at least, now he does. When he was younger, he thought ghosts were a figment of his imagination. The numb3rs just didn't add up.

Then, just a few nights ago, he saw a metallic, glowing, _floating **thing**_. It kept talking about a "Ghost-Child" and the "Ghost Zone". Charlie had no idea what it was.

Until the math convention. When Martin O'Nearpath began talking about ghosts, Charlie realized that ghosts were real, and he had _seen_ one.

Charlie's best friend, a blonde-haired, blue-eyed physicist named Larry Fleinhardt, didn't believe, however. In fact, they had had a small fight at the convention. Being such close friends, though, they came to an understanding.

Now, Charlie had gone back to working on P vs. NP, and unsolvable math equation. The last time he had gone back to it was after a case he messed up for his older brother, black-haired, brown-eyed, FBI special agent Don Eppes. P vs. NP was a kind of… bad habit Charlie had. Whenever he was in a state of shock or depression, Charlie would work on this equation. Today, however, he was working on it because he had nothing else to do.

Don was at work, and Charlie's dad Alan was out with some friends. Charlie had no classes today because school had been cancelled for some reason. Charlie was actually _hoping_ that Don needed help on a case, just so he had something to do.

Suddenly, Charlie's cell phone rang, and he came out of his world of numbers. _Thank you!_ he thought.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Hey, buddy," Don said, "we've got a really weird case on our hands, and we need your help."

"Why? What's going on?"

"The lot just outside the city is being destroyed."

"By what?"

"Uh, we don't know."

"How can you not know? You've got surveillance cameras on that lot ever since that shootout there last year."

"It's—We can't _see _anything, even on the surveillance cams. It's being destroyed by something, or some_one_, invisible."

"I'll be right there."

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Don's office.

"Look," Don said, pointing to a computer screen, "the lot's being torn up by nothing." His younger brother Charlie was watching the screen intently.

"Stop the tape!" Charlie said suddenly. They paused the recording. "Go back some." They did, and a green light was seen shooting from midair.

"Nice call, buddy," Don said, "but what is it?"

"It seems to be glowing," David, one of Don's teammates, said. "Maybe it's some kind of chemical?" Both turned to Charlie.

"Well, I won't be able to help you with that," Charlie answered, tapping the screen on the green light. "I'm a mathematician, not a chemisist. But, I _can_ tell you that that substance appeared out of thin air."

"Let's go check it out," Don said, gathering his team together.

"Take the infrareds, too!" Charlie said. "I'll watch the monitors!"

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At the lot.

"Skulker," Danny said, "do you realize the mess we've made?"

"Yes," answered the villain, "but I really don't care."

"You should care! Someone's gotta clean this up!"

"Well, it won't be me."

Danny flew at Skulker again and attacked him. Both were still invisible. They continued their fight.

"Okay, move in!" a voice said. Soon, FBI agents surrounded the lot, as well as Danny and Skulker. "Charlie, I don't get it!" one of them said. It was Don. "The infrared's picking up two bodies, but they're too cold to be alive, or even _human_."

"Don, I think they might be ghosts," Charlie answered over Don's dispatch.

Don snorted, "Charlie, ghosts aren't real."

"Yes, they are!" Charlie answered indignantly. "I saw one a little while ago, and Martin O'Nearpath believes in them, too. His whole town has been invaded by ghosts more than once."

"Okaaay, let's say they are. Why is one twice as cold as the other?"

"It's probably been dead longer."

Don sighed in annoyance with his little brother's minor craziness. "How do we make them show themselves?"

"Cover the area with spray paint, or something."

"How about pepper spray?"

"That'd work."

"You all heard him!" Don yelled to the others. "On three. One, two, THREE!" The lot was soon covered by pepper spray.

Danny appeared first, coughing and rubbing his eyes like crazy. He noticed the FBI agents. "What the—?" he flew down to Don and said, "What do you think you're doing? I almost had him!" He held up the Fenton Thermos.

"Had who?" Don asked carefully, thinking this floating kid might be dangerous.

Skulker appeared behind Danny, and he shivered.

"I almost had Skulker! Two more seconds, and I would've caught him!" Danny was trapped in an ectoplasmic rope that Skulker had shot at him. The rope sent some electricity through him, and he screamed.

"Too bad, Ghost-Child," Skulker said. "Now _I've_ got **_you!_**"

"Ghost-Child?" Don asked.

"G—Ghost-Child?" Charlie stuttered over the dispatch. He checked the screen again. "Don, that's the ghost I saw before! That metallic one!"

"You've seen it before?" Don asked. Danny held his breath.

"Yeah. He had said something about a Ghost-Child or a halfa or something."

"A halfa?" Don questioned.

"Uh, yeah," Danny answered. "That would be a half-ghost, half-human."

"Is that even possible?"

"Yeah. There are only two."

"Who?"

"Plasmius and… uh, me."

"What!"

"Hehheh, yeah. I'm only half-ghost; Skulker's a full-ghost."

"That explains the temperature change."

A bolt of electricity shocked Danny, and he screamed, reminding them all that Skulker was still there.

"The Ghost-Child is coming with me," Skulker said.

"No, he's coming down to the med-lab for some tests," Don argued.

"Uh, do I get a say in this?" Danny asked.

"NO!" the two screamed. Danny backed down.

"He's coming with me."

"He's coming with us."

Danny sighed. "Why am I only popular when I don't want to be?"

Don shot at Skulker, who accidentally let go of the rope. Danny got himself out and opened the Fenton Thermos.

"Bye, Skulker!" he said as he sucked him inside. He noticed the time. "Aw, man! I gotta get back home!"

"NO, you're coming with us." Don handcuffed Danny.

"I guess I'm coming with you."

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A/N: Yay! Um, more's on the way, and I know this is the wrong story to update today, but I need a name for the girl Danny's gonna date in CoH and also, any ideas on what could go wrong on a date to the movies and dinner? Um, also, I need ideas for Dad's Letter. I've got no idea how they're gonna get Alan back, and I need to think of that so I know what to put in the next chappy, so that's gonna take a while. Anyway, gotta go bye y'all!


	3. Hostage

A/N: Okay, I'm goin' for two chappies in one day! GO ME!

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Danny tried to phase out of the handcuffs, but some ectoplasm had gotten on them, making them ecto-cuffs.

Don had taken some extra precaution for "Ghost-Boy" as he tended to call Danny. He had two to four cops on him at all times on the drive into LA and to the agency. When Danny realized where they were, he began yelling, "What are you doing? I need to get back to Amity Park, to my home! My teachers (not to mention my parents) are gonna get suspicious! My friends (not to mention my sister) are gonna be worried!"

"What?" Don asked. "how can you have a family if you're a ghost?"

"_Half_-ghost. I was full human at first, until an accident in my parents' lab. They didn't notice a difference (which was good, considering their job)"

"What's their job?"

"They're, uh, professional ghost-hunters, and my ghost-side is considered 'Public Ghost Enemy No. 1'." The officers around Danny trained their guns on him.

"Why are you considered that?"

"Because Walker framed me!"

"Who's Walker?"

"The ghost warden. He's the judge, executioner, jury, execution, jailer, and, if necessary, the executioner."

"Um, you said—"

"Executioner three times, I know. He likes that part of the job."

"That guy is weird."

"Most ghosts are."

"Now, why do you keep referring to them as ghosts?"

"Because they _are_ ghosts."

"Why did you call yourself a halfa?"

"Because the ghosts call me that."

Don sighed in annoyance. "And why do the ghosts call you that?"

Danny took a deep breath, paused, then said, "I don't know." The officers put their guns down.

Don sighed again. "I can't believe Charlie actually believes in ghosts."

"Wait, Charlie?" Danny asked suddenly. "As in, Charlie Eppes?"

"Yeah," Don said slowly.

"That would make _you_ Don Eppes."

"Yeah."

"Sam was right… again."

"Sam?"

"My friend, and SHE'S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!"

"I didn't say she was."

"I know, it's just a habit we have."

"Okaaay."

"I _need _to talk to Charlie. It's really important!"

"What?"

"I had this dream of a math convention, and Charlie and Larry were there, and the guy started talking about ghosts, and Charlie and Larry started fighting about whether ghosts were real or not, and the ghost is gonna kill Mr. O'Nearpath, and—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Did you say _kill?_"

"Yeah, but it was just a dream. And—"

"No, it wasn't. Charlie and Larry went to a math convention yesterday, and someone _did_ start talking about ghosts. Now, Charlie believes in ghosts because—"

"He saw Skulker," Danny finished. Don stared at him. "It was in my dream."

"How could you dream of something that really happened?"

"Tuck was right, too! It _is_ a new ghost power! Wait, Tuck was **_RIGHT?_**"

"Tuck?"

"My other best friend."

"Ghost _powers?_"

"Yeah. Like flying, invisibility, ecto-blasts, ghost stinger, overshadowing, and intangibility."

"If you have intangibility, then why haven't you gotten out of the handcuffs?"

"Ectoplasm got on them," Danny answered, as if that would explain everything.

"Meaning…?"

"They're ecto-cuffs. Ghosts can't phase through them."

"Okaaay."

There was a short pause, then—

"So, um, how much longer?" The van stopped. "Apparently, not much."

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Charlie was replaying the part of the tape where Danny caught Skulker when Don and Danny, along with the other agents, came into the room. He turned to Danny and asked, "_What _are you?"

"Uh, a, um, a halfa?" Danny answered hesitantly.

"What's a halfa?"

"A half-ghost, half-human."

"So, you can go back and forth between the two?"

"Yeah, but not with these ecto-cuffs on."

"Huh?"

"Wow!" Don exclaimed. "Ghost-Boy stumped Charlie!"

"Ghost-Boy?" Charlie asked, his right eyebrow threatening to reach his hairline.

Danny shrugged. "Beats being called 'Inviso-Bill'."

"I—Inviso-Bill?" Charlie asked, flipping over his chair and landing on his back. He backed up more. "But, you're evil!"

"I'm not evil!"

"Sure, like I'm gonna believe _you!_"

"It's true; I know you saw that video of me catching Skulker."

"So, you're…not evil?"

"No, Walker framed me."

"Okaaay," Charlie said slowly.

"That reminds me, did you go to a math convention yesterday?"

"Yes."

"Did you talk to Mr. O'Nearpath?"

"Yes, I talked to Martin."

"Did you ever see Skulker before today?"

"Yes."

"Wow, it really _was_ real, then!"

"What?"

"The dream I had of the math convention was real!" Then, Danny realized, "O'Nearpath's really in trouble! You guys _have_ to help him! He's gonna get killed by that ghost!"

"What!" Charlie yelled. "Why would a ghost want to kill Martin?"

"I've got no clue!"

Charlie turned to Don, "We should give him some protection!"

"How?" Don asked no one in particular. "If he _is _a ghost, he could just go right past us."

"But not past me!" Danny said.

"How are we supposed to know you won't join that ghost?" Don asked suspiciously.

"Because I—" Danny's cell phone rang, and he cursed at the bad timing. "What?" he answered angrily.

"Danny!" Sam's voice said. "You're okay! If you ever do that again, I'll—"

"Look, Sam, make this fast."

"Walker's looking for you!"

"What! Why?" Don and Charlie stared in confusion.

"I don't know! But he's got a hostage, and he's gonna kill her if you don't come in the next 30 minutes!"

"It's gonna take me _at least_ 40 minutes to get there! See if you two can stall him."

"We can't!" Sam's voice sounded desperate. _She must be worried for the hostage!_ Danny thought. _Well, it's not Paulina._ He realized Sam was still talking. "If anyone gets near him, he'll kill the hostage!"

Danny took a deep breath, then said quietly, "Who is it?"

"Oh, Danny, it's, oh, it's Jazz!"

"J—Jazz?" Danny almost dropped the phone. He picked up a completely different tone, one of seriousness mixed with anger and concern. "Tell him I'm gonna need forty minutes to get there."

There was a long pause, then, "He'll give you 35."

"I can handle that. I'll be right there." Danny hung up and turned to Don. "Take the cuffs off," he demanded.

"Why?" Don asked suspiciously.

"TAKE THE CUFFS OFF!" Danny screamed. Don did, and Danny started for the window.

"Hey!" Don yelled. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To Amity Park to save my sister from Walker."

"Not without backup, you're not."

"I've only got 35 minutes! Actually, by now, I've only got 33 1/2! It'd be faster if I went by myself."

"Too bad; we're coming with you."

"No, you're not! _I've_ handled Walker before, _I_ can do it again, _I'm _the halfa, _I _know about ghosts, _I've _dealt with them before, **_I KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!_** Now, if you'll excuse me, _I've_ gotta go." Danny flew out the window.

"Kid's got anger management problems." Don turned to David Sinclair and asked, "Did you get a tracking device on him?"

"No, it kept falling off. Sorry, Don," he answered.

"No problem. He told us where he was going. We're going to Amity Park to interview the citizens about Inviso-Bill. Anyone who knows something we don't, bring back here. Got it?"

"Um, Don?" Charlie said. "Where are we going to stay?"

"At a hotel, where else?" Don answered.

"What if we can't find one?"

"We can find a house to stay in, hopefully someone who knows a lot about ghosts."

"So, I guess I'm coming, too?"

"Of course, we need a math genius _and_ a ghost genius on this. You fit both descriptions, at least, mostly."

"Okay."

"So, everyone ready?" There were no negative answers. "Let's get going."

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With Danny.

Danny arrived at Amity Park with about thirty seconds left. He desperately searched for Walker and found him just as the time ran out.

"Good job, punk," Walker said, "though I was hoping I could get rid of your sister. Oh, well. Catch her if you can, punk!" Walker dropped Jazz, who was caught by Danny just before she hit the ground.

"D—Danny, what's g—going o—on?" Jazz asked Danny as he flew her to safety.

"…Don't worry about it," Danny answered quietly.

"D—Danny?"

"Look, Jazz, I'll explain later." He dropped her off on the doorstep of their house, then flew back to face Walker. "Walker, what do you want now?"

"I want to make a deal," the warden said. "There's a new ghost out there who's got something against you."

"Who doesn't?" Danny mumbled.

"He's trying to find a way to get at you. He was a mathematician before he died, and he's able to send visions to certain people in dreams."

"Really?"

"Yes. This guy will stop at nothing for revenge, even if it means a few extra deaths. That's against the rules."

"So throw him in jail, just don't drag me into this."

"I—I can't."

"Why not?"

"He's able to break out using math, using numbers."

"This guy sounds dangerous. What am _I_ supposed to do?"

"Stop him!"

"Wait, what about that deal you mentioned?"

"Grr, I was hoping you'd forgotten that. Oh, well. If you stop him, I'll change your punishment to community service."

"Huh?"

"I'd change the charge from one thousand years to a few odd jobs. Whaddaya say?" Walker held out his hand.

Danny paused for a moment, thinking, _If I agree with him, I'd be saving myself from an evil ghost _and_ ghost jail. If I don't, then I'd be on my own against a deadly ghost _and_ still be in trouble with Walker. I guess this isn't much of a choice._ Danny hesitantly grabbed Walker's hand. "Deal."

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A/N: Yay! Two chappies, one day! And, I've got a four-day weekend! Expect more! Um, so, what will the FBI find out about "Inviso-Bill", and from whom? And, will Danny's end of the deal be fulfilled? Find out later! Adios, y'all!


	4. Interrogations

A/N: Hi again! Um, so, uh, here's another chappy! And, uh, those of you reading this, please, please, please, PLEASE tell others about this story and review! I'm kinda disappointed this has only gotten two reviews so far. And I'm also upset that my other stories haven't gotten reviews for their newest chappies, but that's OK because I heard that ffnet wasn't allowing reviews for a little while. Anyway, here's the new chappy!

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"Danny, what were you thinking?" Sam yelled. "You just made a deal with _Walker!_" They were walking towards their houses. Danny was back in human-mode.

"Well, Walker goes by the rules, so he'll go by the rules of the deal," Danny answered tiredly.

"You'll have to explain to Jazz now, too," Tuck said.

"I _know_, now leave me alone!" Danny said. They had come to the intersection where they had to split up. "See you tomorrow, guys."

"Bye, Danny," Sam and Tuck answered, beginning to walk away.

Danny began his long walk down the street to his house at the very end. He was halfway there when a van honked at him. He jumped out of the street and rolled onto the sidewalk. The van slowed to a stop and the window rolled down, revealing Don Eppes.

"Kid!" Don yelled, obviously not noticing the likenesses between Danny and "Inviso-Bill". "What the hell were you doing in the street?"

"Walking home," Danny answered. "No one's out driving at this time of night around here."

"Are there any hotels around here?"

"Not that I know of—"

"DANNY!" Jack and Maddie, Danny and Jazz's parents, yelled as they ran over to Danny and the van. "Danny, do you know how late it is?"

"You missed your curfew again!" Maddie continued. Danny winced at his mother's volume. "There was a ghost attack! You and Jazz could have been hurt!"

Don began to gain interest in the conversation.

"But, Mom," Danny whined, "I was trying out some of your inventions! The ghost left, and I was coming straight home!"

"You're still late! Jazz told us that the ghost had grabbed her, but someone saved her. Do you know who it was?"

"No, Mom, I didn't see anyone."

"Excuse me," Don said, "but were you talking about ghosts?"

Danny, who had been motioning for Don to stop, smiled innocently when Jack looked at him. Maddie and Jack were both smiling happily. As Jack turned away, Danny hit his head with the heal of his hand multiple times.

"Yes, we were," Jack began. "You see, our whole family believes in ghosts—"

"Including Jazz?" Danny asked skeptically.'

"Yes, including Jazz (at least on some points) Our whole family believes in ghosts. We, er, excuse me, Jack and I even invent things to stop ghosts."

"Is that possible? Do they work?" Don asked. Danny sighed. He knew his parents would never shut up now.

"I'm going home, okay Mom?"

"Fine, Danny." Danny ran the rest of the way to his house. He slammed the door shut behind him and leaned against it, panting heavily. Jazz walked over to him.

"You still haven't told me how you got like that. Would you?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah. Let's go downstairs, though." Danny led the way to the basement/lab. Once there, Danny and Jazz both sat on a table near the Ghost Portal. "You know how the Portal just started working suddenly?"

"Yeah, I was wondering about that."

"That was because of me."

"Oh? How?"

"I went inside the Portal to see what was wrong and accidentally pushed the 'on' button. Our crazy parents had forgotten to turn it on before they threw the switch. After I pressed it, there was this bright light, and I screamed, but no noise came out. When I woke up," Danny transformed into Danny Phantom, "I looked like this."

"Wow. So, that's why? So why does it always look like you're destroying the town?" she asked, slightly confused that he was so reckless in his fights.

"I don't! I try to _protect_ this stupid town!"

"Danny, it's okay. I know that you protect the town and I'm really proud of you. It must be really hard to protect everyone from all those ghosts."

"I still can't believe that you _knew?_ You knew and you never told me! You made me think that you didn't know and I went around worrying about you finding out and getting freaked out! Jazz, why couldn't you have told me you knew? It would've made things so much easier for me if I knew that you knew! YOU COULD'VE HELPED US AGAINST THE GHOSTS! JAZZ, WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME BEFORE?"

"I didn't tell you because I was waiting for you to tell me! It would've been stupid on my part if I had just walked up to you and said, 'Hi, Danny! By the way, I know that you're a half-ghost that tries to save our town from any ghosts that come.' You would've freaked out."

"WELL, THEN, WHAT DO YOU CALL WHAT I'M DOING NOW?"

"Uh, freaking out?"

"YOU HAVE EYES! IT'S A MIRACLE! SOMEONE GET YOU A MILLION-DOLLAR PRIZE! GOOD JOB, OH DARLING SISTER OF MINE!"

"Danny, I'm sor—"

"SAVE IT, I'M GOIN' TO BED." With that, Danny walked upstairs, got changed, and fell asleep before his head hit the pillow.

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_Dream sequence._

"_It's O'Nearpath's turn," a strange yet familiar voice said._

_Suddenly, the setting changed to a room inside a house. The walls had math equations posted on them. Danny could tell that the house was in Amity Park because he could see the town sign out the window. _What am I doing here?_ Danny thought. Then, he noticed someone sitting in the corner, working on some papers. Danny recognized him as Dr. O'Nearpath. Danny began to panic._

I have a bad feeling about this! _he thought. _What if this is all real like the math convention? This might be what Sam warned me about! But, if it is, where's the ghost?

_Suddenly, out of some blue smoke, a ghost appeared. The ghost had blue skin, and its head was cut off at the neck. He was carrying his head under his arm. Danny shuddered at the sight of the disgusting ghost._

Never mind, _Danny thought, _found him. _Danny soon noticed that he couldn't move. _Greaaat.

_The ghost moved over to Dr. O'Nearpath and tapped him on the shoulder. The Prof. jumped, then turned to the ghost._

"_Zapley?" he said. "What are you doing here? You died last month!"_

"_I've come for revenge!" the ghost, Zapley, answered._

"_But I didn't do anything to you!"_

"_This is just a small part of the revenge I've planned for the Ghost-Boy!"_

_Danny felt like a piece of lead had dropped into his stomach. The world seemed to spin around him in a huge swirl of colors. _Walker was right,_ he thought, _this guy is killing other people just to get at me. I _need_ to stop this, but how?

_By then, the ghost of Zapley had pulled out a sword and was getting ready to kill O'Nearpath. Danny felt another surge of panic as he realized: _There's no way I can save him. _The sword swung back, then forward. O'Nearpath's head rolled around on the floor as blood poured out of his neck and pooled around his body. Danny tried to turn away, then remembered, _Oh, yeah. I can't move._ He tried to scream, but found that he couldn't do that either._

_As the body slumped over, Zapley laughed maniacally. Echoing around Danny, who was still trying to scream, Zapley said, "The non-believers are next. I have plans for Eppes. Next stop, Prof. Bowman."_

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End dream sequence.

Danny sat up quickly, screaming. Jazz and his parents ran into the room to see what was wrong.

"Danny, what happened?" Maddie asked over Jack's scream of, "GHOST!"

"Bad dream, _really_ bad dream," Danny mumbled as he gasped for breath.

"Thank goodness, that's all it was." Maddie turned to someone who was in the hallway and said, "It was just a nightmare."

Danny looked at Jazz, who was glancing around nervously, and realized how scared he really was. It made him revert back into his younger days, turning to his sister for comfort from his nightmare. "Jazzy," he said.

Jazz was startled by not only the noise, but also the fact that Danny, no, _no one_ had called her that for years. Danny only used that name when he was truly terrified. She desperately hoped that his dream hadn't been what had scared him. Abandoning all thoughts of their fight earlier that night, Jazz asked, "Yeah, Kiddo?" using a name _she_ hadn't for many years.

"I'm scared," Danny answered. He threw his arms around Jazz, who in turn wrapped her arms around him. "I'm really scared, Jazzy!"

"Sh, Kiddo, it's okay," Jazz said quietly, hoping for him to believe her. "It's okay."

"B—But I'm s—scared!" Danny stuttered through tears that were falling down his face.

"Kiddo, can you tell me what happened?"

"No." His voice shook with fear.

"Please, Kiddo?" Jazz's psychological brain needed to probe Danny for more info.

"NO!" he screamed, although his voice was still in a whisper.

"_Please?_"

"It's too late."

"What? Too late for what?"

"Too late to save him; he's dead!"

"Who's dead?" The room was suddenly as quiet as a graveyard. Jazz winced. _Bad use of words_, she thought.

"O'Nearpath." Danny's answer was so quiet, Jazz had to strain her ears to hear it.

"What?"

"O'Nearpath is dead; his head was cut off."

"What made you dream of _that?_"

"A ghost," he said it without emotion, which slightly scared Jazz. She'd never heard her brother so… _lifeless_. "A ghost named _Zapley_." The name came out in such a bitter, rage-filled hiss that it took Jazz a moment to realize that Danny had finished talking and went back to staring helplessly as silent tears still streamed down his face.

"Well, it's not real, right?"

Danny turned to look right at Jazz, his eyes brimming with tears. "It's as real as my dream was last night, and someone else is in trouble now." Jazz was surprised again. Never in his fourteen-year-old life had Danny ever said _anything_ serious, well, except for when he was getting potty-trained when he was 2… never mind.

"Kiddo, you should go back to sleep. I'll be right here when you wake up."

Danny laid back down onto his bed and was asleep almost immediately.

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Next day.

"Guys, this stinks!" Danny told Sam and Tuck. "The FBI is at my house!"

"_Suuure_," Sam said slowly.

"I'm serious! I was taken to the LA FBI, and now they're staying at my house!"

"Why aren't they at a hotel?"

"Because none were open last night because of the ghost attack!"

"Why are they even here?" Tuck asked.

"I don't know, probably to find out more about 'Inviso-Bill'." Danny sighed. "I'm just glad they're not _here!_"

"Uh, Danny? Sorry, but you're, heh, a bit off on that one," Tuck said, looking towards a van that had just pulled up. Don Eppes and David Sinclair were getting out, along with many others. Don had them pair up and spread out across the school. Don and David came towards Danny, Sam, and Tucker.

"Hey, kids!" Don yelled as they came up to them. "We've got some questions for you."

"What kind of questions?" Sam asked suspiciously.

"Ghost-related," David answered.

"Then you should talk to the Fentons." Danny snorted at Tuck's stupid idea.

"We already did," Don replied. "We also got a good _long_ look at their lab."

"There are _two _Fentons we haven't talked to yet," David said as he and Don looked at Danny, who gulped in nervousness.

"Alright, shoot," he said.

"Full name?" Don asked.

"Danny Fenton."

"Including middle name."

"_Daniel_ _Scott Fenton_," Danny ground out.

"Your parents make ghost inventions, right?"

"_Anti_-ghost inventions."

"And you try them out, _with_ permission?"

"I—I _borrow _them, yeah."

"Uh-huh. What do you three know about Inviso-Bill?" Don asked, directing the question to all three.

"He's not evil, if that's what you mean!" Sam answered angrily.

"We already know that."

"Oh." Sam blushed.

"He lives in town," Danny answered vaguely, "and his name's Phantom, not Inviso-Bill."

"He uses the Fenton Thermos and some other inventions," Tuck continued.

"Anything else?" David asked.

"We know all the ghosts he's fought," Sam replied, "Tuck and Danny have their bios, on their PDA and computer, respectively."

"Yeah, we're friends with him, but Danny knows him best," Tuck answered.

"Really?" Don asked. "What are your names?"

"Sam Manson."

"Tucker Foley."

"Thought so," Don said. He turned to David and whispered, "These three are coming with us. Tell the principal." David nodded and walked into the building. Don turned back to the trio, "You're coming back with us."

"WHAT!" Sam, Tuck, and Danny yelled.

"You guys are coming back with us. Get in the van."

"NO," Sam said, planting her feet.

"Sam…" Danny said, "not a good time for a protest…"

"Yeah, c'mon, Sam!" Tuck said. "We're getting out of school!"

He and Danny each grabbed one of Sam's arms and pulled her towards the van. Halfway there, she realized she wouldn't win and walked with her friends to the vehicle. As they went inside, they looked around at the other occupants. Most they recognized: Dash, Paulina, Valerie, Kwan, Star, and Jazz. Sam was startled by the last inhabitant.

"No way!" she gasped.

"What?" Danny and Tuck asked.

"Danny, you were right!"

"I was? About what?" Danny asked.

"I can't believe it; it's actually _him!_"

"_About what?_"

"This is amazing! I never thought I'd meet him!"

"**_About what?_**"

"Wow, this is so cool!"

"**_About what?_**"

"I can't believe this at all! This is so aweso—"

"**_SAM, ABOUT WHAT?_**"

"About the whole FBI-thing. And about _him!_" she exclaimed as she pointed at the brown-haired, brown-eyed man sitting near the front.

"Why?" Tuck asked. "Who is it?"

"_It's Charlie Eppes._"

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A/N: Not _quite _a cliffy, right:ducks flying food: I'll take that as a no. Read and Review; it makes me think better! Bye, y'all!


	5. A Skull

A/N: Hi! It's me again! Um, I still need to think about what I'm going to write next in CoH and Dad's Letter. HELP ME! Oh, and I might do a sequel to this, but it might be in the NUMB3RS section of ffnet. So, um, look for that once I'm done with this one.

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Charlie looked up when he heard his name. "Did someone call me?" he questioned.

Sam hid behind Danny so Charlie wouldn't notice her. Charlie ducked his head back down into his work.

"Aw, man!" Danny said. "I left my math homework in my locker!" By then, Don, David, and the others came back. A blonde woman walked over to Don.

"Don," she said, "we've questioned the town, and pretty much everyone's at least _seen_ Ghost-Boy!"

"Terry, calm down," Don replied, "we only need to bring back those who know more about him than we do."

"Don, that's half of the town! We've got to narrow our list of people so we have enough room in the vans for ourselves!"

"Whoa, okay." Don turned to the kids. "You, you, you, you, you, and you are staying here," he said, pointing at Paulina, Valerie, Jazz, Sam, Tuck, and Danny. "The rest go back to school." The others left, grumbling.

Danny turned to Sam and Tuck, saying, "I need to finish my algebra homework from last night. My book's in my locker!"

"Don't worry, Danny, it's just _homework_," Tuck said.

"I'm failing the class."

"Never mind. That reminds me, I left _my_ homework inside!"

"Oh, man, me, too!" Sam said. Don heard them and walked over.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

"We left our homework in our lockers," Danny answered.

"Fine." He turned to the others. "Okay, these three left their homework inside. Some of you are coming with me. We'll escort them to their lockers and back. Terry, David, and Ralph, you're coming with me, along with… Charlie."

Charlie's head jerked back up. "What? _Me?_"

"Yes, Charlie." Don turned back to Danny, Sam, and Tuck and said, "Lead the way."

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Inside.

"So," David said, "where are your lockers?" They had been walking in silence for three minutes. Danny, Sam, and Tuck glanced at each other.

"Not too much farther," Danny answered vaguely. A minute later, Tuck stopped in front of a (his) locker. Ralph stopped with him, but the others kept going, following Sam and Danny. Sam glanced nervously at Danny, and blushed when he did the same.

"Uh, Danny?" she began.

"Yeah, Sam?" he replied.

"Um, I, uh, want to tell you something…"

"What? What is it?"

"Oh, it can wait 'til later…" She pulled over to her locker, and Danny stood watching in confusion/nervousness. Don walked up behind him.

"You like her don't you?" he asked quietly. Danny jumped.

"W—What?" he said. "No! I—I mean, I _like_ her, but not like _that!_"

"Whatever, kid, just get your stuff."

"R—Right." Danny walked over to his locker and began fiddling with the old lock.

A little ways away, Sam gasped. She had found a note stuck in her English notebook and pulled it out. She read the note to herself, not recognizing the handwriting.

_Girl_, it began, _I know about you and how you feel about the Ghost-Boy, and I just wanted to let you know how much trouble he's gotten himself into. I'd suggest not letting him open his locker for awhile. Of course, that all depends upon how much you _really_ like him. Either way, I'll see you both again. —Zapley_

"DANNY!" she yelled, seeing his hand on the locker's handle. "DON'T—!" but Danny pulled the door open, and—

A disembodied head fell to the ground. Danny jumped back with a loud "AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!" as the head somehow turned _toward_ Danny and spoke.

"BOY!" it screamed. "REVENGE WILL BE MINE! YOU CANNOT HIDE FOREVER!" Ectoplasm began forming around the head, creating a large body, roughly the size of Jack Fenton, and Danny fell backwards on his elbows. He pushed himself up so he had all his weight on the palms of his hands. "YOU WILL MEET THE SAME FATE AS O'NEARPATH! I _WILL_ HAVE MY REVENGE, BOY! YOU'RE TURN WILL COME, JUST YOU WAIT!" Then, the head spoke quietly, "But first, I must do something else." It opened its mouth widely, and Danny gasped as a navy blue smoke-like thing came out of the mouth and into his own, suffocating him. Time slowed down for Danny as the smoke choked him, and his friends tried to help him. Don, Terry, David, and Ralph tried to get at Danny, too, but no one was able to because of a force field-type thing that the head had made. Charlie, however, stood there, staring at the head unblinkingly. Suddenly, the head closed its mouth, and the last of the navy blue smoke streamed into Danny's mouth. He passed out, and time returned to normal speed as he and the head fell backwards, the head and ectoplasmic body disintegrating as it did so. The force field collapsed, also.

"Danny!" Sam screamed as she and Tucker ran towards their unconscious friend.

"Ralph!" Don yelled to the agent who had ran over with Tucker when they heard Sam and Danny scream. "You and I will take Fenton back to the van; he needs medical attention. Terry, David, and Charlie, you need to stay with these two. Bring them back when they've got their stuff. Have one of 'em get Fenton's stuff, too, but don't touch anything else in that locker. Got it?" The two agents and the genius nodded. Don nodded back, then he and Ralph each threw one of Danny's arms around their shoulders and picked him up. They walked back out to the van.

Tucker, who already had his books, grabbed Danny's Algebra book and notebook from his locker, taking extra caution to not touch anything else. He stood to one side awkwardly once he had everything.

Sam also had her things and had put them in her backpack. She took a closer look at the ashes the ghost head had left behind. She was about to leave when she noticed a white spot in the ashes. "Tuck," she said coarsely, "get the Fenton Extra-Long Ghost Tweezers from your backpack! There's something in here!"

"No, get away from there!" Terry said as Tuck slung off his backpack and began digging in it for the invention Sam wanted. "That's not safe material!"

"It's ghost material!" Sam yelled back. "The Fenton Inventions are ghost-proof; I'll be fine!" By then, Tuck had found the Tweezers and tossed them to Sam. She caught them and began digging through the ashes. After a minute or two, she used the Tweezers to pull out a piece of white paper, on which a note was written.

_To Ghost-Boy's Friends_, it said. _Ghost-Boy is in deep crud now. He'll be in even more if I kill my victims. You two are probably wondering why. Well, the "smoke" that I transferred to him will help me out immensely. You see, not only am I getting closer to killing him with each victim, but now, he'll become more and more susceptible to the effects of the "smoke" with each successful attack. You might also want to warn Charlie and Larry about my plans for them. Oh, and Ghost-Boy might be acting a bit strange for awhile, that is, until I kill him. You see, with each person I kill, Danny will find another skull somewhere. Those skulls, once Danny finds them, will make the "smoke" more and more powerful. Let's just say, Danny will have quite the split-personality. Until next time, kids. —Zapley._

After she had read it, she handed the note wordlessly to Tucker, fighting to keep the tears in her eyes from falling. Tuck read it quickly, then crumpled it in his hand. He turned to Charlie and said, "Professor Eppes, you, Larry, and Danny are in a lot of trouble…"

"What?" Charlie asked. "What do you mean?"

Sam sniffled as she said, "Danny and Phantom—"

"Phantom?" Terry said. "Who's that?"

"Also known as Inviso-Bill," David answered.

"—have a kind of… connection. It's because Danny found Phantom. If one of them has a dream, they both have it. They can even talk telepathically. See, we don't know Phantom's true identity, but Danny does. In fact, he and Phantom are the ones who fight all the ghosts; he just tells us about them and how to use the Fenton Inventions. They do _everything_ together."

"They fight together," Tuck continued, "they play together, they act together, they even get in trouble together! The problem is, they mostly get into trouble with ghosts. Like Skulker, Walker, Technus, Spectra, Bertrand, Desiree, Dragon Ghost, Poindexter, Ember—"

"Don't remind me," Sam grumbled.

"—Plasmius—"

"Did you say Plasmius?" David asked. Terry turned to him. "He's the other halfa!"

"—And now Zapley. They're both in a _lot _of trouble! And so are you, professor, and your friend," Tuck finished, turning to Charlie.

"But Danny's in even more trouble!" Sam exclaimed.

"W—Why?" Charlie stuttered. He seemed scared and concerned at the same time.

"Because not only will that smoke hurt Danny with each dead victim, but—but—" Sam couldn't continue, so Tuck finished for her.

"—If one dies, both will."

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A/N: Yes, I _am _mean. **Calls TGG and WW and FF to help me against the forming angry mob** HA! I'm ready for you this time! **Angry mob shoots arrows at me** Dang it. They got new toys. HELP!

_Anyway_, love y'all! Gotta go! **Runs away from angry mob, screaming**


	6. Too Much Decapitation

A/N: Hi, again. Guess what? It's the last day of school (for me)! YAY-ness! Anyway, Here's the next chappy!

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Don kicked the van door so someone would open it. Jazz heard the noise and pushed the door open, hoping Danny and his friends were back. She gasped. Well, at least Danny was back. Unconscious, but back.

"What happened to him?" she asked.

"It's a _long_ story," Ralph said.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?" she demanded.

"He passed out," Don answered.

"How?"

Don sighed. Why was it always his job to tell the bad stories? "His locker was rigged."

"What? By who?"

"We don't know."

"That nightmare he had… what was in his locker?"

"A… skull."

"Oh, God," Jazz said as she sat down.

"What's wrong?"

"He dreamed of some guy getting his head cut off. That's why he screamed last night."

"Who'd he see?"

"Some guy named O—O'Ninley? O'Nearson? O'Near-something…"

"O'Nearpath?"

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

"Someone tipped us off that O'Nearpath was being targeted by a ghost. He was found dead this morning."

Jazz closed her eyes and clenched her fists by her side. Don could tell she was having trouble with her next question, so he and Ralph laid Danny down across a three-seater.

"How'd O'Nearpath die?" Jazz finally asked.

_Always the bad stories_, Don thought grimly. "Decapitation."

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In school.

"So, if one dies, the other dies as well?" David asked. Terry was trying to comfort a crying Sam.

"Yeah, pretty much," Tuck said. "Maybe we should head—" Sam winced— "back now."

"We probably should." David turned to Charlie, who was staring unblinkingly at the ashes of the head and body. "Charlie? You okay?"

Charlie blinked twice and shook his head before answering, "I'm fine. I just noticed whose head—" Sam winced again— "that was."

"Huh?" Terry asked.

"It is—was—O'Nearpath's."

"C'mon, we should really get back there." With that said, the two agents, two kids, and the math genius walked back to the van.

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In the van.

"D—Decapitation?" Jazz asked.

"Yes. We, uh, couldn't find the head, though," Don answered.

"And we know why," David said as he and the others came inside.

"The head from the locker was his head," Terry continued. "We also know that Charlie, Larry, and Danny over there are targets, too."

"We have a feeling Danny's in the most trouble."

"What? Why?" Don and Jazz asked. Both were concerned for their little brothers, though they knew they could handle themselves.

"The ghost—"

"Zapley," Tuck and Sam said matter-of-factly.

"The ghost is after our Ghost-Boy—"

"Ghost-Boy?" Jazz asked suspiciously.

"Our tip-off," Don answered.

"Also known as Phantom, or, as most of Amity used to call him, 'Inviso-Bill'," Sam said.

"And if Danny dies, Phantom will," David continued, "or vice versa."

Jazz gasped and pointed at Danny, who was now stirring. His fingers were twitching, and his eyelids were squeezed shut. Jazz noticed that these weren't his normal "waking-up-but-still-half-asleep-and-wanting-to-stay-that-way" motions. Normally, he'd be twisting back and forth, not twitching.

"Danny?" she asked as he blinked his eyes open. "Danny, are you okay?"

"Danny?" the young boy said. "Who's Danny?"

"Oh, you're Danny!" Jazz said, nearly crying at the thought that her brother, her little, baby brother might have amnesia.

"No, no, my name's not Danny, it's Martin."

Charlie looked startled. "Martin? As in, Martin O'Nearpath?"

"Charles?" 'Danny' asked. "Charles Eppes, is that really you? You look… taller than you did a few days ago."

"I should; you've gotten considerably shorter."

"Why was that little girl calling me Danny?"

Jazz made a frustrated noise at being called a little girl by her brother—er, a person _inside_ her brother. "I'm calling you that because you look just like my 14-year-old brother Danny!"

"How? I—I'm 32, how can I look like an adolescent?"

"Because you're inside his body!"

"That's impossible; I can't be inside the body of a 14-year-old child!" Terry handed him a mirror. He took one look and exclaimed, "I can't believe it! I'm inside the body of a 14-year-old child!"

"We told you," Jazz deadpanned. Then, she turned to Charlie, "How, though?"

"What?" the genius asked.

"How is this guy inside Danny? I mean, he even _sounds_ like Danny!"

"I—I don't know."

"You _have _to have _some_ idea!"

"It was the smoke." Everyone turned to the person who had spoken. It was Sam. "The smoke somehow transferred O'Nearpath's—"

"Martin. My name is Martin," Martin, inside Danny, said.

"Right, _Martin_. Anyway, the smoke somehow transferred Martin's spirit, his ghost, into Danny's body."

"So, how do we get Danny back?" Jazz asked, concerned for her baby brother, whose eyes now had a glazed look to them. He blinked a few times, then turned to Jazz as he slowly sat up.

"Jazz? What's going on?"

"Danny! Oh, Danny, you're back!" Jazz squealed, hugging her brother, whom she knew was himself again.

"Uh, Jazz? Not able to breathe here!" Jazz let go of Danny, and he fell off the three-seater. "…Ow." His reaction came several seconds late, proving he was still half-asleep. "Wait, what do you mean, 'I'm back'? I didn't go anywhere!"

"Not physically, at least."

"Wait, you mean I was somewhere else mentally, …literally?"

"Yeah, but someone else was talking through you."

"And it wasn't Phantom," Sam said. Everyone stared at her again. "Since ya know, Phantom often speaks through you to us."

"OH, right," Danny replied catching on. He laughed nervously. "So, uh, can we go now?"

"_Suuure_," Don answered slowly. He took one more suspicious look at Danny, then started the van's engine.

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LA, 1 1/2 hrs. later.

The van pulled to a stop right outside the FBI Agency. Danny, Sam, Tuck, and Jazz were whispering together, going over their cover story.

"Okay, so when they ask, just say you've helped him out a few times," Danny instructed Jazz.

"Right," she replied. "Can I mention that he's saved me a few times?"

"Sure, as long as it supports the 'Phantom-is-not-evil-don't-hurt-him' idea."

"Okay."

"Everyone got it?" Sam, Tuck, and Jazz nodded. "Great."

"Alright, everyone out!" Don said, opening the van's side door. The six kids and Charlie climbed out onto the sidewalk. "We're going to do some quick two-by-two interrogations, then we'll find a hotel you can stay at."

"The only problem is, there are too many of you," Charlie said, looking at what he had been writing. "With all the other vans we brought, the agents and kids won't all fit in a hotel. Two of you will have to stay somewhere else."

"There's a guestroom at your house, right, Charlie?" Don asked.

"Well, uh, well, yeah…"

"Great! Two of them can stay with you."

"But, uh, the room's being re-done."

Don's right eyebrow launched upward at that. "Buddy, Dad would _never_ re-do that room without telling _me_ first." Charlie opened his mouth, but Don quickly added, "Even though it's now your house. I mean, it used to be _my_ room, and I still have some stuff in there that I want back. _They're staying with you_."

"Which two?" Charlie said dejectedly.

"How about the two Fenton kids?"

"…Fine…"

"Okay, everyone pair up!"

Paulina grudgingly teamed up with Valerie, who smiled at Danny before leaving, but Danny, Sam, Tuck, and Jazz had trouble figuring out how they should divide.

"Girls/Boys?" Sam said.

"No, how 'bout Lovebirds/Friends?" Tuck suggested, receiving a glare from Sam.

"NO!" Danny screamed.

"Why not Siblings/Arguers?" Jazz tried, expecting more fireworks. Surprisingly, everyone agreed. They split up, Danny and Jazz going one way, Tuck and Sam going another.

"Alright," Don continued, "we'll number the pairs as you go in and call you in by number." Sam and Tuck were No. 5, and Danny and Jazz were No. 30, which was last. Jazz knew it would take a long time for her and Danny to be called.

"Danny," she said, "you should get some sleep. It's gonna be a _long_ time before it's our turn."

But Danny's eyes had glazed over again. He blinked a few times, then asked, "Where are we?"

"Hi, Martin," Jazz said. "We're at the LA FBI. We've got to answer some questions for them."

"So, what's your name?"

"Jazz Fenton."

"Ah! You're Danny's older sister! Speaking of Danny, did you know that he's actually—" Jazz covered his mouth so he wouldn't give away Danny's secret identity.

"Yeah, I know. Just, get some sleep, okay? Danny, too." Martin nodded, then leaned back and fell asleep.

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2 hrs. later.

Danny woke up and looked around for Jazz. He quickly noticed her sitting next to him. Don was yelling, "Group 15!" in the background.

"Jazz," Danny said, "I'm cold."

Jazz smiled as she put her arm around him in a sisterly way and said, "Go back to sleep, okay? You'll warm up soon enough." She watched as he fell asleep, then she did the same.

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2 more hrs. later.

Don was getting aggravated. They had mostly gotten the same thing over and over. "Phantom? He's that ghost-kid that's ruining the town!" or, "Well, he led a ghost invasion a few weeks ago." or even, "That kid's purely evil! He's completely insane!" But, he had gotten some interesting things from Foley, Manson, Grey, and that-other-girl-who-came-in-with-Grey. So far, they were the only ones who thought Phantom was good, well, at least, the only _kids_ who did. Don sighed in relief when he saw that there was only one pair left: _the Fenton kids_. He and Terry walked over to the sleeping siblings.

"Who should we wake first?" Terry asked in a whisper.

"Wake the girl," Don answered. "Manson said the boy'd probably be jumpy, especially in a place he's not used to." They shook Jazz, and she woke with a start.

"Huh?" She looked at the two agents and asked, "I guess it's our turn now?" Don nodded. "I'll wake Danny." She stood up quickly, causing Danny to fall from his "sleeping-while-sitting-up" position to a "sleeping-while-lying-across-an-uncomfortable-bench" position. He rolled over, falling onto the floor and mumbled "Ow" while still sleeping. Jazz blew some hair out of her face and bent down to Danny. She took a deep breath, then screamed, "DANNY! MOM AND DAD'S NEW INVENTION IS GONNA BLOW UP THE HOUSE! WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW! GET UP, GET UP, **_GET UP!_**"

Danny jumped up, looking around anxiously, yelling, "I'M UP! I'M UP!" When he noticed they weren't at home, he looked straight at Jazz. "Liar," he said, half-angry, half-tired. He yawned, looking back and forth between the two agents and his sister. "It's our turn?" The others nodded. "Where are Sam and Tuck?" Danny asked, frowning.

"They went to the hotel down the street once they were done with the interrogations," Don answered. Danny nodded.

"Let's get this over with."

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They soon came into a room that had a table and three chairs. Terry stayed outside. Don sat down on one side of the table, and Danny and Jazz sat together on the other side. Terry stood looking in through the two-way. She waited by the speaker for Don to turn on the mic. When he did, he began the questioning.

"What are your names? Full names, that is."

"Jazmine Lee Fenton," Jazz stated.

"_Daniel Scott Fenton_," Danny ground out.

"What do you know about Inviso-Bill?"

"His name's Phantom," Danny answered angrily.

"Why are you so upset about the name being wrong?" Don asked quickly.

"Why are you questioning half our school?" Danny countered.

"Danny…" Jazz said quietly.

"Just answer the questions, kids. What do you know about Phantom?"

"There was a lab accident six months ago," Jazz began. She looked at Danny accusingly, "_Danny_ tried to fix the Portal."

"Hey, it worked didn't it?" Danny countered. He took a deep breath and continued. "I had taken all the precautions, lab suit, gloves, boots, etc., and I had gone inside the Portal to see what was wrong. I accidentally pushed the 'on' button that was inside the Portal. It started up, and I saw this bright green light coming at me. I thought it was the end, ya know? Then this guy came flying out of the green stuff. He pulled me out of the Portal and back into the lab. What surprised me was that he was my age and even looked kinda like me, only opposite. He has snow white hair, glowing green eyes, and a black and silver lab suit. He told me his name, and I told him mine. He told me everything he could about the Ghost Zone. I gave him a tour of the lab and told him to come back sometime. He said he had no choice. He _had_ to come back to save us from the evil ghosts. I told him I'd help him fight the ghosts. I even got Sam and Tuck to help. Soon enough, I had become the one thing Jazz and I had promised each other we wouldn't be: a ghost-hunter."

"A ghost-hunter, eh? Why did you promise you wouldn't become one?"

"Because both of our parents are ghost-hunters," Jazz answered.

"I see. You had a nightmare last night, am I correct?" Danny nodded. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"I can."

There was a bit of a pause, then, "_Well?_"

"You only asked if I _could_, and I _can_, but you didn't ask if I _would_, and I _won_'_t_."

"Danny, maybe _you _won't, but I think _someone else_ will," Jazz said pointedly.

"But no one else knows except—OH!" Danny's eyes went wide as he realized what Jazz was saying. He closed his eyes for a minute and mumbled something unintelligible. When he opened his eyes, Jazz noticed they were a deep blue-green like her own, unlike her brother's normal crystal-blue eyes. Jazz was surprised that she hadn't seen that before.

Jazz smiled softly at the confused expressions on his and Don's faces. "Hey, Marty," she said. He looked up at Jazz and smiled back.

"Hello, _Jazmine_," he said, his smile turning into a smirk. Jazz realized he must've heard from Danny that she didn't like being called Jazmine.

"Great," she said, "_two_ brothers in one."

"What?" Don asked.

"That's not Danny; it's Marty."

"How can you tell?"

"His eyes have a green tint, and they're darker. Danny won't tell you what happened, but Marty will."

Don stared uncertainly at Marty. "So, uh, do I have to repeat my question?"

"No, Danny told me what you wanted to ask," Marty said. "I can tell you what happened to me." He took a deep breath and began.

"Last night I was grading papers in my room, and someone came up behind me. It got really cold, and I felt something poke me on the shoulder. When I turned around, I saw the ghost of Zapley. He had died a month ago. He told me he had come for revenge, but I hadn't done anything to him. He elaborated that killing me was part of the revenge he has planned for D—Phantom. He pulled out a machete and cut my head off. From what Danny told me, I can tell that Zapley is after Prof. Elizabeth Bowman. The next thing I knew, I was waking up to a little girl screaming 'DANNY!' in my—er, his face. Any other questions?" he finished as his eyes glazed over again. Jazz saw his crystal-blue eyes glance up at her from under his messy black hair.

"Yes," Don said, "how did Zapley die?"

Danny closed his eyes again. When he opened them, he looked scared.

"So?" Don prompted. "How'd he die?"

"… D—Decapitation…"

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A/N: Yay for chapter-long-ness! Um, I'm working on the next chappy of CoH and it's gonna be _funny!_ But, I'm still having trouble on D'sL, so please, I _need _ideas! Oh, Danny's gonna have a really _fun_ time next chappy, especially when he goes to Charlie for help on his homework… (Sorry, this has been chasing other ideas around my mind for _weeks!_) Alright, see y'all later! Bye!


	7. Going to Charlie's

A/N: Hey, y'all! Me again. I _love _summer, don't you? Lot's of time to write (and beat some video games (like LOD) ;) ) So, expect a lot of updates, but I do need to find time to write the chappies, too. ;) Anyway, I'd better shut up and write!

REVIEW RESPONSES:

**Sapphire Dragon Trainer: **thanx! About the mistake, I had forgotten about that, so thank you for pointing it out to me. I went back and changed those. I couldn't remember whether he had a middle name in the show or not, so I borrowed me brother's middle name for it. Hehe. Thanx again!

STORY TIME!

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"By who?" Don asked. "With what weapon?" But Danny spoke no more. Don was getting angry at the black-haired, blue-eyed teen that wasn't cooperating.

Danny, on the other hand, was scared silly. He knew the answers to those questions, even without asking Marty. He had suddenly remembered where he had seen Zapley before. He told himself he wouldn't tell Don what happened. Marty argued with him on what to do.

_You have to tell _someone! Marty said. _Tell Jazz!_

_No!_ Danny answered back. _She'll go into psychology on me! I'm not telling her!_

_Tell Charlie. Have him turn off the mic._

_What? You mean they're listening to us?_

_Yes, but Charlie would turn it off. You can trust him. If you say something you don't want repeated, he'll keep it a secret._

_And Jazz?_

_Keep her in there. I think you're calmer with her there, Danny._

_Thanks, Marty._

"Danny?" Jazz asked. "Danny, are you going to answer his question?"

"Can he repeat his question?" Danny asked as he turned to the almost-red-faced Don.

"Yes," Don replied. "How do you know how he died?"

"I was there." Danny's voice was suddenly much quieter.

"What happened?"

"I won't tell _you_."

"WHAT!"

"Danny," Jazz said, "will Marty tell him?"

"No. We'll tell you and one other person as long as the mic is off, and they swear not to tell."

Don sighed. He could tell he was going to lose this argument. "Who's the other person?"

Danny looked straight through the two-way, past Don, as if he knew someone was there, and answered, "The other person is… Charlie."

"_Charlie?_ As in, my little brother Charlie?" Danny nodded. "Fine, but the mic stays on."

"It does, and I'm not sayin' a word."

Don growled. It was _way_ too late for this. "Fine, but I'll pump Charlie later." He walked out to find Charlie. He went straight to his office where he knew Charlie had set up several white boards. Sure enough, Charlie was scribbling something as Don walked in. Charlie jumped when Don tapped him on the shoulder.

"Don, hi," Charlie said. "We ready to go yet?"

"Not quite," Don answered. "We need you to question Fenton on Zapley's death."

"Why don't you do it?" Charlie looked confused, something that doesn't normally happen.

"He won't tell me. He'll only tell you and his sister what happened. Look, when you go in there, turn off the microphone and, once it's off, promise you won't tell a soul what he'll tell you. We'll be watching through the two-way. It'll be right behind you. Just, find out what happened." They walked back to the interrogation room. Don stayed outside with Terry, and Charlie walked in nervously. He sat down in the chair Don had been in. Jazz looked up at Charlie from where she had been comforting Danny. He was getting upset trying to figure out how to tell the story without saying he was Phantom. When he finally figured it out, he looked up at Charlie, too. Charlie turned off the mic, as he had seen Don do several times.

"There's something you wanted to tell me?" he asked Danny, cringing at the thought that he sounded slightly like a psychiatrist. He disliked those things with a passion. _(A/N: Sorry, I just couldn't see Charlie actually **HATING** someone!)_

"Yeah," Danny answered, "but first I wanna check that the mic's off." Charlie looked confused again as Danny continued, "Please, don't be offended by what I'm about to say, I just wanna make sure no one can hear me." Charlie nodded, still confused. "Okay, then. I just wanna say—"

"Danny," Jazz interrupted, "you're not going to do what I think you're going to do, are you?" She looked ready to kill.

"And what would that be?" Danny asked innocently.

"You _know_ what I'm talking about! You got suspended for a month last time you did your 'making-sure-the-mic's-off' check!" At Danny's sinister smirk, Jazz sighed in defeat and admitted, "I know I'm not going to be able to stop you. Just, keep it PG, okay?"

"Awww, you take the fun outta _everything!_" Danny turned back to Charlie and said, "I just wanna say that… Don Eppes is a freakin' idiot with a cruddy job who needs your stinkin' help just because he doesn't give a darn about the junk you call math, and you don't care about _anything_ other than math because you're a freak because of how much you like math!" Charlie looked shocked, enraged, and… _impressed_ all at once. Danny, however, had his eyes closed tight and was muttering, "3… 2… 1…" under his breath. He winced, then opened one eye and glanced around the room. He sighed as he said, "Okay, mic's off." He looked very pleased with himself. Jazz groaned and hit her head, thinking, _He's gonna get us killed_.

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Outside.

"_THAT LITTLE **PUNK!**_" Don screamed, trying to free himself from Terry and David, who had come over when he saw Charlie go in.

"Don… calm down!" Terry panted. She and David were very tired from restraining Don from running in and tearing Fenton apart. "I _know _you can read lips (and are _very_ overprotective) but Fenton was only checking if the mic was still on!"

"Besides, Don," David continued, "this kid's got a _lot_ of info, both on Zapley _and_ Ghost-Boy. He'll be useful."

"Fine," Don relaxed against his two partners, then threatened, "but if he says anything else like that, I'm gonna kill him!"

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Inside.

"Uh, can I switch places with you, Charlie?" Danny asked. He looked around the room and fidgeted nervously. He shivered.

"Why?" Charlie asked. _It's not cold in here…_ he thought.

"I, uh, have this… _feeling_ that something's watching me. And, someone on the other side of the two-way can read lips."

This startled Charlie. Was that kid _really _smart, or just really, _really, **really, really, REALLY**_ good at guessing? Either way, Charlie got up and switched places with Danny.

"Thanks. Alright, do you both promise you won't tell a soul what I'm about to tell you?" Both Jazz and Charlie nodded, the latter surprised that Danny's wording almost duplicated Don's earlier. "Okay, here's what happened…"

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_Flashback._

_I was walking down a crowded street, following Phantom, who was invisible—_

"**How could you see him if he was invisible?" Charlie interrupted.**

"**I'm getting there."**

—I knew where he was because of our connection. Out of nowhere, Skulker popped up with his glowing blade—

"**Skulker? Like, that guy from the parking lot?" It was Charlie again.**

"**Yes, like the guy from the parking lot." Danny was angry at the interruptions.**

_Phantom became visible and tried to get away from Skulker. I tried to catch him in the Fenton Thermos, but he was moving too much. He chased Phantom around the street, Skulker waving his blade around. When they got back to where I was, they were flying lower. The street had emptied out because of the fight, but I didn't notice that there was someone still walking around until I bumped into him. I thought he was a local because 1) he wasn't looking where he was going, and B) he wasn't surprised (or even worried) about the ghosts. The next few things happened pretty quickly. Skulker and Phantom flew back to us, Phantom flew past me and that guy, and Skulker _almost_ hit me, but I ducked. The next thing I knew, Skulker's blade cut through the air again, but this time, it hit something. Phantom heard the noise and flew back as that guy's head fell down. By the time Phantom got there, that guy was dead, and Skulker was gone, threatening to come back for us. I ran over to Phantom and the dead guy as Phantom landed. He fell onto his knees and changed back to his human form. We ran back home when we realized people would be coming soon._

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End flashback.

"That's what happened," Danny finished. Jazz was grossed out and almost crying, and Charlie… well, Charlie was handling it like he normally does with violence: not handling it.

"Y—You're _sure_ that's it?" he stuttered.

"Yeah. Skulker killed him, but he blames Phantom for it because Phantom ran—er, _flew_ past him, causing Skulker to hit him."

"So, that explains why Zapley's after Phantom, but why is he after you and me?"

"Walker was right," Danny said in a monotone. "Zapley's killing others just to get at m—_Phantom_. The reason why he's after me is because Phantom will die if I do. I don't know why he's after you, though."

"Can I tell Don that story?"

"I'd really rather you not—" Light blue smoke streamed out of Danny's mouth and he shivered again. "Guys, get outta here!"

"What?" Charlie asked. "Why?" Jazz, however, knew what was going on.

"We're not leaving," she said. "Even if we _did_ leave, there are other people watching."

"Great," Danny said, "just great!" He threw his arms into the air, but one stopped, as if caught. His eyes widened, and suddenly, he screamed as pinkish electricity surrounded him. A figure appeared hovering (literally) over him. It had blue skin, black air, fangs, red eyes, a white suit and cape, black gloves and boots, and looked like a vampire. It—he—laughed as Danny screamed.

"Hello again, Daniel," he said. "_So_ nice to see you, especially when you're _sooo_ happy to see me."

"Leave… me… alone… Plasmius!" Danny panted.

Charlie's eyes widened, and he yelped, "P—Plasmius?" He ran around the table and slammed his fist on the mic's 'on' button. "Don!" he yelled into the mic. "Don, that thing's Plasmius!"

Plasmius just laughed again as he threw Danny into a wall. "I came to give you a message, _son_."

"Don't… _call_… **me**… **_SON!_**" Danny screamed as he stood up shakily. "_Don't you **ever** call me **son**!_"

"The message," Vlad continued as though Danny hadn't yelled, "is that if you don't do as I say, I have quite a few options. I _could _tell everyone your little secret, or kill you, or kill one of your friends, or brainwash one of your friends into getting you for me, or hold one of your friends hostage until you join me, but you already knew all that. I'll make you a deal: join me, and Zapley won't know where you and _Phantom_ live."

"You're too late for that, _Plasmius_," Danny spat, "Zapley already knows."

That caught everyone listening off-guard. Charlie sputtered, Jazz blinked rapidly, Don, Terry, and David gaped, and Plasmius looked like he was about to blow a gasket. He put everyone's thoughts into words (or, in Charlie's case, coherent words) "If he knows where you live, why doesn't he just kill you?"

"Two reasons. One, he wants to face Phantom, not me. Two, like everyone else, he wants to torture me first. Now, since you've delivered you're message, GET OUTTA HERE!"

"Fine, but I'll be back, _son_, I'll be back!" Plasmius disappeared, Danny screaming, "DON'T CALL ME SON!" at him. When he was sure Plasmius was out of sight, Danny collapsed against the wall, panting. Jazz rushed over to help him as Don, Terry, and David walked in.

"Okay, Charlie," Don said, "we can _all _go home now."

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Charlie's house.

Don parked the car, and he, Jazz, Danny, and Charlie walked up to Charlie's house. Before Charlie could get the keys out, the door flew open, revealing white-haired, brown-eyed Alan Eppes, Charlie and Don's father.

"Charlie, Don," he whispered, "do you know how late it is? Well, get in here! You brought company? At _this_ hour? Ah, well, come in, come in." Alan ushered them inside, and Charlie showed Jazz and Danny the guestroom on the second floor. Don, however, flopped down on the couch and was asleep almost instantly.

Upstairs, Jazz and Danny were sitting on the bed playing rock-paper-scissors.

"One, two, three, _shoot!_" they said together. Jazz had scissors, and Danny had paper. He groaned.

"Best two outta three?" he asked hopefully. Jazz laughed and shook her head.

"I won, fair and square. Get off my bed!" She pushed him off, and he hit the ground with a 'thud'. He grabbed his math book, saying, "I'm gonna finish my homework before going to sleep."

Jazz shrugged, "Fine by me," and went to sleep.

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2 1/2 hrs. later (like 3:00 AM)

Danny was still struggling with his algebra homework. _That's what I get for being a C-student!_ he thought. _Well, only one thing left to do: see if the residential math genius has insomnia, too_. Now, to answer Charlie's earlier question, Danny's smart (most of the time) but when it comes to guessing, he's one of the best there is. Danny grabbed his book and went downstairs. He walked into the kitchen, where Charlie was eating half a bagel. Charlie looked up when he heard Danny come in.

"May I help you?" Charlie asked, sounding the part of a math professor. Danny nodded nervously (hey, you all know the problems he has with teachers! Just look at Lancer…) and sat down next to him.

"I'm having trouble with my algebra homework. I just don't get the whole 'graphing-systems-of-linear-inequalities' thing." (this is straight outta my math book, people!)

"Do you know how to do inequalities in two variables?" Charlie asked.

"That's, um, the x plus y is less than 3 stuff, right?"

"Yes. All you do for this is solve the inequalities, graph them, and shade in the parts that need to be shaded in."

"Okay, so for this one," Danny pointed to y is less than x, y is less than negative x plus 1, "I graph them," he drew a graph and plotted the lines, "then shade them in?" He shaded the parts below the lines and made the double-shaded area darker. "So, that's my answer?"

"Yes," Charlie replied, glad that _someone_ caught on so quickly. "You're pretty good at this."

Danny blushed. "No, I'm not. I needed help on it. Thanks." He suddenly remembered something, "Marty had a question." His eyes glazed over and became blue-green. "Hello, Charles, I wanted to ask you a question on probability."

"What's the question?"

"What are the chances of… a spirit separating from a body?"

"Oh," Charlie looked upset, "I'm sorry, Martin—"

"Marty, please, call me Marty."

"Okay, Marty, I'm sorry, but those chances are slim-to-none."

"How slim?"

"You'd have a better chance at acquiring the jackpot, grand-prize lottery on a fake ticket than getting out of there. I'm sorry."

"I kinda suspected that—"

"Danny?" Jazz said as she came down the steps. "Danny, go to sleep, you need to get _some_ rest, Mr. Invincible."

"Okay, Jazmine," Marty said, grinning as he started up the stairs.

"Hey, Jazz?" Charlie began.

Jazz turned around, frowning. "Hm?"

"Take care of him, he's gonna need it."

Jazz smiled and followed Marty, now Danny, up the steps. She ran into him halfway up. "Danny, what's wrong?" she asked desperately. Danny wasn't breathing and his eyes were locked on the ground, mouth ajar. Jazz followed his gaze downward and her breath was caught in her throat. Lying there, seemingly harmless (yet _creee-pyyy!_) was the last thing Jazz wanted to see: **_a skull_**.

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A/N: Technically, not a cliffy. You guys probably know _part _of what's next, so I'll just say this: read and review, y'all! Bye!


	8. He BRAGS About ME?

A/N: Hey, again. Um, let's just get going, okay? But first…

REVIEW RESPONSES!

**Catnip070:** it could? I—I mean, of COURSE it could! Yep, summer's the best! (Don't worry, I'm ignoring everything on my to-do list 'cept writing and reading!)

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"CHARLIE!" Jazz screamed as Danny's eyes and mouth closed and he fell backwards. Jazz caught him, somehow keeping from toppling backwards herself. Charlie, as well as Don, came running up the steps to help her. The skull was now nothing but a pile of ashes, and Jazz was terrified—f-for her brother, not of some stupid _skull_. Don took Danny and carried him upstairs. Charlie walked up with Jazz.

"Did you get a good look at that skull?" he asked. Jazz shook her head, tears forming in her eyes.

"Danny will know who it was, though." She looked up at Charlie, who seemed upset about something.

"Why Marty?" he asked. "Why Larry? Why Danny? Why Phantom? Overall, _why?_"

"I don't know, but I think Danny's hiding something, I just wish I knew what…"

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_Dream sequence._

"_You might think you've escaped this, but you're wrong. You've just delayed the inevitable nightmare." That laugh again. _Zapley, _Danny thought angrily._

So, this is what happened to you the night I died?_ Marty asked suddenly. A boy Danny's age with brown, short hair and blue-green eyes appeared. It was Marty, only as a teen._

Yeah,_ Danny answered, _but I was alone last time. We won't be able to move or talk outside of our heads._ Marty nodded._

_Suddenly, they were in a room painted pink. A woman was asleep on a bed in the middle of the room. The blue smoke appeared, along with Zapley. The woman woke up and screamed at the sight of the villain, who now had his machete out and ready to disconnect her head from her body. He swung it forward, and the head fell to the ground._

And, now he'll tell us who's next, _Danny told Marty._

Is he really _that_ predictable?

"_Two down, eight to go. Prof. Leo _(pronounced Lay-O) _is next," Zapley's voice echoed around Danny and Marty._

Yep, he's _that_ predictable, _Danny said before everything faded to black. _(A/N: And… cue commercial! J/K, J/K)

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End dream sequence.

His eyes shot open, and he looked around the room quickly. Jazz, Don, Charlie, and Alan were staring at him, but only Jazz noticed his eyes. They weren't blue, or even blue-green, they were _gray!_ Jazz realized that the skull had planted another poor soul inside Danny.

"What's your name?" Jazz asked.

"Elizabeth Bowman," 'Danny' said. Alan looked at 'Danny' like he had sprouted another head.

"Why does he think he's a girl?" Alan asked. Don and Charlie jumped, having not noticed their father before.

"Dad, it's pretty complicated…" Charlie began. It looked like he was about to explain it all.

"I'm gonna go now," Alan said as he walked out of the room.

"Good job, Buddy," Don said. They turned back to Danny, who was back to normal.

"You okay?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah," Danny replied. "That skull was Lizzy Bowman's."

"Who's next?" Don questioned.

"Some guy named Leo."

"Leo…" Charlie repeated, "like Ralph Leo?"

"Was he at the math convention?" Charlie nodded. "Then yes."

"We need to protect him somehow, Don."

"Phantom can protect him! He's done it before!"

"Danny," Jazz whispered, "calm down!" He stared at her, his eyes flashing green for a second. "Or, continue going crazy. Whichever, just don't hurt me!"

"Why would he hurt you?" Don asked. He obviously missed the flash of green.

"I think I know why," Charlie said, clearly nervous and scared. He must've seen the flash. "Don, can I speak to these two _alone?_" Don looked suspiciously from Charlie to Danny to Jazz and back to Charlie.

"Okay, but call me when you're done." He walked out of the room, leaving Charlie alone with the Fentons. Charlie turned back to Danny and Jazz.

"Danny, _you're_ Phantom, aren't you?" he asked.

Danny laughed nervously, "What are you talking about? I'm not Phantom, I'm—" he fell out of bed, transforming halfway down—"I'm _Danny_ Phantom."

Charlie stared at Danny. "You're a halfa. You're one of the two halfas alive! I've seen two halfas and know who one of them really is."

"Don't tell anyone!"

"Not even Don?"

"Don… _I'll_ tell him later."

"Danny, problem!" Jazz said.

"What?"

"Vlad's coming!" She pointed to the window. A pink streak was heading straight for them. Danny looked worried.

"Who's Vlad?" Charlie asked, obviously noting that Jazz and Danny were scared.

"My arch-enemy. He's had an extra twenty years with his powers."

"You mean, he's…?"

"Yeah, he's Plasmius." By then, Plasmius was nearing the window. "Guys, get out of here! I'll fight him off." Danny pushed them out and blasted the doorknob. He got ready to fight as Plasmius flew in.

"I see you're ready for me, son."

"**_WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT CALLING ME THAT?_**" Danny screamed.

"That when I call you that I'd better be ready for a fight, and I am." He grabbed Danny's arm and sent the pinkish electricity through him. Danny screamed. Vlad threw him into a wall, which he hit full-force. He jumped right back at Plasmius, an ectoplasmic blast charging in his hand. He threw it at the villain, who put up a pink rebounder. The blast flew back at Danny, who dodged it just in time. Danny was tiring quickly, especially because he had been up all night and had _two other spirits inside him_. Plasmius could tell that Danny was losing. Danny was worried that everyone else in the house would be in trouble if he lost. Plasmius decided to continue the battle be materializing a giant pink mallet and hitting Danny with it. Danny flew backward into the wall and bounced back at Plasmius. Plasmius was waiting for him and grabbed his arm, sending Danny into pain again as he was electrocuted. Danny changed back to normal, and Plasmius tossed him back into the wall. Danny slid down it, breathing heavily.

"Okay, Plasmius… you… won," Danny panted, "now… what?"

"The best part," Plasmius replied as he walked slowly towards our terrified halfa hero.

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Meanwhile with Charlie and Jazz. (A/N: This part gets kinda confusing)

"Something's wrong," Jazz said. Charlie looked at her skeptically. "Danny normally taunts his enemy a lot while fighting."

"So?" the genius asked.

"So, Danny hasn't said a word! He must be in trouble!" She started fiddling with the doorknob. "It's locked!"

"I—It _can't_ be locked! You have to use the key to lock it, and I have the _only_ key!"

Jazz kept trying the knob. Soon, it—came off the door. "I take it that's bad?" Charlie asked. Jazz nodded, staring at the knob in her hand. They both rushed next to the door and put an ear against it. They listened to the hero-to-villain conversation.

"Okay, Plasmius… you… won, now… what?" they heard Danny say.

"The best part," Plasmius answered. There was a pause, a scream, then, "Now, will you come willingly, or will I have to use force?"

"What do you think, _V-Man?_" Danny taunted. Jazz gasped.

"I think I'll have to use force, _son_." More screams, then Plasmius laughed. Jazz took off, running for help before it was too late for her brother.

Charlie, however, remained to listen to the rest of the one-sided conversation. Plasmius continued, "Let's get going, then."

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Meanwhile with Danny.

Plasmius blasted Danny with an eyebeam. Danny screamed. He was way too tired for all this. Both were oblivious to the fact that they were being eavesdropped on. Plasmius smiled at Danny's pain.

"Now," Plasmius continued, "will you come willingly, or will I have to use force?"

Danny stood up slowly, ready for his last stand. "What do you think, _V-Man?_" Danny taunted. He wanted to make Vlad as angry as possible_. If he's mad at me_, Danny thought, _he won't care about anyone else. He'll leave them alone!_

"I think I'll have to use force, _son_." He charged an ectoblast and hit Danny with it. Danny screamed. Vlad just continued smiling. He continued attacking Danny, who continued screaming in pain. Plasmius laughed as Danny fell down, unconscious, too tired to continue. "Let's get going, then." He picked up Danny by the collar, and, as he was about to go out the window, the door was kicked down. Standing in the doorway was none other than Charlie, Jazz, and Don, gun ready to fire.

"Freeze, Plasmius!" Don yelled, pointing his gun at the villain. "Put Fenton down!"

Plasmius just laughed. "Like you'd really shoot me when I'm holding _him!_" He held Danny in front of him like a shield. "Besides, as a ghost, guns can't hurt me!"

"That's where you're wrong, Plasmius," Don continued, "Jazz here added ectoplasm to my gun, so it will hurt you but not Fenton." Jazz was now trying to keep Don from shooting, as was Charlie. They both knew that gun could, and most likely _would_ hurt Danny.

Plasmius laughed again. "I'm _sooo_ sorry to disappoint you, but that gun _will _hurt Daniel. But please, do try it if you don't believe me."

Don began lowering the gun. "Good idea," Plasmius said as he turned back toward the window. With Danny unexposed, Don shot at Plasmius, who dropped Danny when he was hit. Jazz rushed forward, grabbed Danny, and pulled out a Fenton Thermos. Vlad looked at her, sneering. "You've won this time, _son_, but I'll be back!" He quickly flew out the window and away from the house. Jazz sighed in relief and turned back to Danny.

"Wake up!" She urged her brother. "Please, Danny, wake up, wake up, _WAKE UP!_" Suddenly, Danny's eyes shot open, but they were gray instead of blue. Jazz sighed again. "Hey, Lizzy."

"Hello, Jazz," Lizzy, from inside Danny, said. "Marty told me what's going on, including the truth about Phantom."

"Where's Marty now?"

"Trying to get Danny to wake up."

"Okay."

"He's going to be fine, Jazz, this kind of thing has happened to him before."

"Thanks."

"No problem." Lizzy turned to Charlie and Don. "So, Charlie, is this the older brother you keep bragging about helping out?"

Charlie blushed and ducked his head in embarrassment. Don suddenly realized what Lizzy had said. "Charlie _brags_ about **_ME?_**"

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A/N: Okay, the ending was kinda anti-climactic. Oh, well. Heehee, Charlie brags about helping Don. Sorry, I just needed a funny ending. I think I've got an idea for the next chappy of D'sL (thank you, Raye Sun!) so look forward to getting that soon. Peace out, y'all!


	9. Secrets, Way Too Many Secrets

A/N: Hey everyone! I CAN'T WAIT for the newest DP eppy, can you? I'm putting this out to celebrate the new eppy (and also to celebrate the newest HP book, coming out Saturday!) So, everybody, enjoy!

REVIEW RESPONSES!

**Purrbaby101: **thanx! You're right, it really doesn't matter. I was trying to make it so that those unfamiliar with the show would get all the info they needed. Wonderful! I GOT SOMEONE HOOKED ON NUMB3RS! Um, anyway… you can see it on CBS (channel 3 for me) on Fridays from 10-11 PM eastern. Check it out! Thanx, I will, and I hope you enjoy!

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"What, you didn't know that?" Lizzy asked.

"Well, no, not really," Don said.

"Don," Charlie began," it wasn't really _bragging_, per se, it was more like… _telling_ them about my side-jobs."

"In an _extremely_ superior tone," Lizzy elaborated.

"Look, when's Danny gonna wake up?" Charlie asked impatiently.

"Um, right now." Lizzy's eyes glazed over and changed back to their normal blue. Danny groaned as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head, effectively messing his hair up. "Oh, what hit me?" Suddenly, he remembered the fight with Plasmius. "Where-is-he?"

"Danny, calm down," Jazz said. "Don got rid of Plasmius."

Danny turned to Don, awe-struck. "_How?_"

"I shot him with an ectoplasmic gun, then Jazz held one of those thermos thingies up, pointed at him. One thing, though, why'd he call you 'son'?"

"Long… story," Danny said while yawning. "May I get some more sleep, now?"

"I think that'd be good for all of us, Kiddo," Jazz said, smiling.

Danny smiled back, lay down on the bed, and was asleep in seconds.

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A few hours later (around 9:30 AM)

BUM BUM BA-BA-BA-BAA BUM BA-BA-BA-BAA BUM BA-BA-BA-BAAAAAAA BUM BUM—

"Hello?" Jazz answered Danny's cell before it woke him up. "Who is it?"

"Jazz?" Sam and Tuck asked over the phone. "Where's Danny?"

"Still asleep."

"Shoulda known," Sam mumbled. "Look, Jazz, Agent Lake's close to finding out Danny's secret!"

"What! How?"

"She asked your parents about Phantom. Also, now that Lake's drawn attention to it, your mom is close to seeing the likeness between Danny and Phantom and the fact that Danny's never around when Phantom is."

"This is bad, very, _very_ bad…"

"You're telling us!" Tuck exclaimed.

"Charlie found out last night. I can't let Danny know!"

"Let Danny know what?" Charlie asked as he came into the room.

Jazz visibly jumped. "Charlie, hi!" she said, nervously. "What are you doing here?"

"It's kind of my house." Charlie looked at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, right… heh…"

"Jazz?" Sam, Tuck, and Charlie asked. "What's going on?"

"Hang on, guys," Jazz said into the cell, "I'll call you back later."

"But Jazz—!"

CLICK! Jazz turned the cell off. "Look,-Charlie,-Agent-Lake's-about-to-find-out-about-Danny,-and-Sam-and-Tuck-are-worried-for-him,-and-so-am-I,-and-Lake-might-tell-Don-before-Danny's-ready-to-tell-him,-and-I-don't-want-him-to-have-to-go-through-all-that-again,-and-I'm-worried-that-Plasmius-will-get-Danny,-and-I-don't-want-Danny-to-find-out-that-I-know-who-Plasmius-really-is,-and-Mom-might-find-out-about-Danny,-and-she-might-experiment-on-him-or-something,-and-now-I'm-rambling,-and—"

"Wait, you said something about Terry?" Charlie interrupted Jazz's speech, which, at the speed she was speaking, could out-strip a racecar. He had only just noticed she had mentioned Agent Terry Lake.

"Yeah, she's almost figured out the truth about Phantom. Why?"

"She'll tell Don first thing! They used to date, so they're really close—But anyway, this isn't good…"

"Wha isn' goo'?" Danny mumbled, still half-asleep, but sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Guys, whazgoinon?"

"Danny," Jazz began. "Agent Lake is close to figuring out about Phantom."

"So?" _Danny _obviously_ isn't awake yet_, Jazz thought.

"She'll tell Don!" Charlie said.

"Thazfine—WHAT! NO!" Danny grabbed his cell, turned it on, and signed onto his AIM screenname.

**Ghostboy14: guys no matta wat u must make sur she dont tell don!**

**Chaos98: k. mornin btw**

**FriarTuck02: got it**

**Ghostboy14: tanx guys i o u 1**

**Chaos98: so we can do watevr as long as she doesnt tell don?**

**Ghostboy14: yep**

**Chaos98:smirk:**

**Ghostboy14: sam? wat r u thinkin?**

**Chaos98: nutin ;)**

**FriarTuck02: danny… shes got that look…**

**Chaos98: wats that spozd 2 mean?**

**Ghostboy14: nutin sam. dont worry tuck ull b fine**

**Chaos98: btw tuck nevr insult sum1 stronger than u if theyr 2 ft from u**

**FriarTuck02: y not?**

**Chaos98: …………………………………**

**FriarTuck02: OW!**

**Chaos98: thas y not**

**Ghostboy14: sam watd u do?**

**Chaos98: atomic wegy :smirk:**

**Ghostboy14:shakes head: shoulda known…**

**FriarTuck02: guys thas NOT funny!**

**Chaos98: yes it is**

**Ghostboy14: i gotta go guys. Bye**

**Chaos98: cya**

**FriarTuck02: laya**

Danny turned off his cell and turned back to Charlie and Jazz. "They'll make sure she doesn't tell Don."

"How?" Charlie, who was unfamiliar with the tech-geek and the Gothic girl, asked.

"They have their ways…" There was a noise at the window.

"What was that?" Jazz asked.

"I don't know," Charlie said, looking fearful.

"I'm checkin' it out. Stay here," Danny said, transforming into Danny Phantom as a blue mist of smoke curled out of his mouth. He flew to the window and looked out cautiously. After a moment, he screamed, "WULF!"

Jazz, who was scared enough already, looked about fit to… uh, run to the nearest bathroom. "Wolf? Where?"

"Not 'wolf', Wulf!" Danny exclaimed happily as a giant ghost dog-type thing in a sweat suit jumped inside the window. Jazz _would've_ screamed, if Danny hadn't covered her mouth. "Wulf, what are you doing here?"

"Wulf see Friend," Wulf replied, struggling some with his English. "Wulf trouble."

"You're in trouble? What kind of trouble?"

"Wulf show Friend." Wulf started towards the window.

"Wulf! I can't go with you right now!"

"Wulf _no se_," Wulf said, looking confused.

"Ugh," Danny groaned. In hopes that Wulf might understand him better, he started signing the words, "I CAN'T GO WITH YOU." Amazingly, Wulf started to sign back.

"You know sign language! Perfect!"

"Uh, Danny?" Jazz asked. "What's he saying?"

"He said that he can tell me what trouble he's in."

Wulf signed, "WULF BROKE FROM WALKER. NOW WALKER COME GET WULF BACK AND GET FRIEND."

"THAT'S BAD," Danny said as he signed the words to Wulf.

"Danny, what's bad?" Jazz and Charlie asked, both looking worried.

"Walker's coming to get Wulf… and me…"

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With Sam and Tuck

"Okay, Tuck," Sam said as she and Tuck snuck down the hallway towards Agent Lake. Said special agent was having a conversation over her cellphone. "You've got it, right?" Tuck nodded and raised his hand, in which a PDA sat. Sam smirked as the two friends turned their attention to the conversation. (_A/N: I'm gonna give you both sides of the conversation. Aren't I nice?_)

"Don, something's weird about these kids," Terry said seriously.

"Sure, Terry," Don answered, "and my brother is the King of Great Britain. I think you need a little more sleep."

"I'm completely serious, Don. I spoke to the Fentons this morning. I asked them about Danny's lab accident, and they said they had heard screaming down there."

"So? Lots of people leave out signs of weakness during interviews, Terry. That's completely normal."

"According to his parents, Fenton's never around when Phantom is. Mrs. Fenton has become rather suspicious about Phantom's _true_ identity."

"Aren't we all? C'mon, Terry, just call me when you find out something important."

"Don, it's just—okay, listen. There's two things I want to tell you: 1) Phantom and Fenton look a _lot_ alike, and 2) I just want you to know…"

"_Tuck, now!_" Sam whispered to her friend, who pressed a button on his PDA, which, apparently, did nothing.

"—I think Fenton _is_ Phantom!" When Terry heard nothing no the other end, she yelled, "Don? DON!" Still hearing nothing, she looked down at the phone, suddenly realizing it was dead. "Darn it! The battery died!" Terry shook her head and turned to leave, but not before noticing Sam and Tuck, both smirking, high-five each other as they headed back to Sam's room. Following them, but staying out of sight, Terry heard the beginning of what sounded to her like a promising conversation:

"Okay, Danny!" Sam said happily. "We kept her from telling Don! Your secret's completely safe!"

It was Terry's turn to smirk as she walked down the hall, knowing now that she had been right. _Wait 'til Don hears this…!_

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A/N: There ya go! Oh, I've got a **CONTEST: Whoever can guess what the music is for Danny's cellphone ring tone gets a part later on in this story! Most likely, the part will be one of the professors who gets stuck with Danny.** **The tone was the _BUM BUM BA-BA-BA-BAA BUM BA-BA-BA-BAA BUM BA-BA-BA-BAAAAAAA BUM BUM—_** **part.** Read and Review, please!


	10. Too Late

A/N: Hey, guys! Sorry about the wait, I was in Illinois for a week visiting relatives, then I had to see my friend before she went back to Florida, then I had to separate my gerbils because we found out one was a boy and the other was a girl, then we went shopping for gerbil stuff, then I had the 4-H Fair, and my boy gerbil won grand champion both days (YAY-ness!), so, here we go! By the way, I've changed the previous chapters so they come after Reign Storm, which totally rocked by the way! So here comes the story! But first………

REVIEW RESPONSES!

**Grey Raven North: ** nope, sorry! Check back to my last chapter and reread the ring tone I put at the end. (It was in the chappy, too) Nice try, and thanx!

**purrbaby101: **okay, but, just to let you know, there is slight language in that show. You're welcome! Yes, she does! Only problem is, will she tell Don? And, will he believe her? No, sorry. Check last chapter again! Thanx, I will!

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"That's great, guys!" Danny exclaimed into his cellphone. He covered the mouthpiece and asked Charlie, "Can they come over for a while?"

"Sure," the genius replied.

Danny uncovered the mouthpiece and nearly screamed, "You guys can come over here!"

"Cool!" Sam and Tuck said over their own cellphones. "We'll be there in a bit!" With that, all three promptly hung up. Danny turned back to his other problem. "WHAT CAN WE DO, WULF?" he said aloud as he signed it to his big, furry friend, the only way they could really understand each other.

"RUN," Wulf signed back.

Danny sighed. "I CAN'T DO THAT, WULF, AND YOU KNOW IT."

"WULF NO OTHER IDEAS."

"Uh, Danny?" Jazz began cautiously.

"Not now, Jazz!" Danny snapped back. His attention turned back to the ghost, "HOW ABOUT WE FIGHT WALKER?"

"WULF NO FIGHT; WALKER TAKE WULF POWERS."

"Danny?" Jazz tried again.

"Not now!"

"WULF WANT HELP FRIEND."

"Danny, I've got—"

"Jazz, now's not the time!"

"WULF THINKS FRIEND LISTEN GIRL."

"Oh, fine. What is it, Jazz?"

"I have an idea."

"Why didn't you say so sooner?"

"I _tried_ to, but you wouldn't let me!"

"Oh."

"_Anyway_, here's my plan…"

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A little later, with Sam, Tuck, and Terry. (around 2 PM)

"What do you mean, we can't go?" Sam and Tuck yelled at Terry.

"Don said no one's allowed to leave the hotel until he himself dismisses them," the FBI Agent said.

"That's not fair!" Sam screamed.

"It is too fair!" Terry shouted back. "The only way you're leaving is if Don—"

" 'If Don' what?" Don asked as he walked over.

"Hey, Don. As I was saying, the only way you're leaving is if Don says you can!"

"Where do you want to go?" Don asked the teenagers.

"Charlie's house," both answered immediately.

"No. Sorry, but, last I checked, Charlie and Fenton were still asleep and Jazz was making sure they stayed that way."

"But we _just_ talked with Danny!" Sam said.

"Sorry; you're staying here."

"Don, about my phone call—" Terry began.

"What about it?" Sam and Tuck exchanged a nervous look.

"I didn't get to finish saying that—"

"Oh, look at the time!" Sam interrupted. "It's past lunch time! I'm hungry, aren't you hungry?"

"Not real—oof!—I mean, yeah, I'm hungry!" Tuck said as Sam elbowed him in the stomach. "In fact, I'm _sooo_ hungry, my stomach hurts!"

"Oookay. What do you want to eat?" Don asked.

"Vegetarian."

"Meat, and kinda meat."

"This is gonna take a while…"

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Several hours later (6:00) with Danny, Jazz, Wulf, and Charlie.

As Sam and Tuck's argument _finally_ came to a close, Jazz finished telling the others her plan. Charlie and Wulf thought it was great. Danny, however, had some doubts.

"Sorry, Jazz, I just don't think Walker will fall for that," he said.

"Just try it!" she replied. "And if it doesn't work, we can wing it."

"_Okayyy_…" Danny walked over to the bed and lay down, pulling the covers over his head. Wulf grabbed Jazz and Charlie, turning them invisible as he pulled them against the wall. They waited there for about an hour until Walker flew in through the window, followed by several guards.

"Should we look for the dimension-hopper?" Bullet, one of the top guards, asked.

"No," Walker answered. "The punk's highest priority."

"But, sir, I thought you were going to let the punk off?"

"That's what _he_ thinks." They continued to look around, until they finally came to the bed. Noticing the lump, Walker pulled off the blankets, revealing a sleeping, twitching Danny. Walker smiled, "Looks like we found him."

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Dream sequence.

"I see you've realized that you can't escape these 'dreams'." Zapley laughed maniacally. Danny growled as the teen Marty and a teenaged girl with blonde hair and gray eyes appeared next to him. He recognized the girl as Lizzy Bowman.

Don't worry, _Lizzy said as Danny opened his mouth, _Marty told me already. _She smiled, and the scene changed to a bedroom where a man was about to go to bed. In the now-familiar blue smoke, Zapley appeared. This time, he kept it short. He came, he laughed, and he—chopped the guy's head off._

**So, **who's next?_ Lizzy asked._

"_Three down, seven to go. Prof. Simons is next," Zapley said as the room began fading to black._

That answers my question,_ Lizzy said._

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End dream sequence. Meanwhile.

"NOW!" Jazz yelled. Wulf became visible, along with Charlie and Jazz. Walker and his guards turned to them in time to get sucked into a Fenton Thermos. Danny jerked awake, screaming. Charlie stared at him intently. Danny was shaking visibly.

"We're too late, aren't we?"

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A/N: There ya go! Tell me what you think!


	11. Whispers and Laughter

A/N: Hey, guys! Two in one day, along with all the changes! (Oh, actually three if you count CoH) YAY-ness!

Um, there's no need for REVIEW RESPONSES! since I _just _put out the new chappy.

On with the story!

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"Too late?" Jazz asked. "What do you mean? We got Walker!"

"Leo is dead," Danny said quietly.

"What!" Jazz yelled.

"_Que?_" Wulf said, looking confused.

"You mean, there's a skull around here somewhere waiting for you to find it so someone _else_ will be stuck inside you?" Jazz asked.

"That pretty much covers it," Danny replied.

"Okay. You're not leaving this room," Jazz stated.

"What?" both Danny and Charlie yelled.

"You can't do that!" Danny screamed angrily.

"Yes, I can."

"Danny's going to have to leave sometimes," Charlie reasoned.

"Not unless I'm with him," Jazz answered.

"What about bathroom?" Danny said.

"I'll check it before you go in and stand outside the door while you're in there."

"Jazz, that's not fair!"

"Too bad!"

The two were right in each other's faces, both yelling and glaring. Charlie, who was used to this kind of stuff between him and Don, was going to let them work it out themselves. Wulf, however, was turning his head back and forth between the two teenagers as though he were watching a tennis match. Then, he said two of the longest words he ever had said. In English, at least.

"Wow. Sibling Rivalry."

Danny and Jazz turned to him and, noticing what they had done, blushed profusely.

"Fine, Jazz," Danny said, "you can be my bodyguard."

"Yes! Hey, wait—"

"DINNER!" Alan called up to everyone.

"COMING, DAD!" Charlie hollered back. "C'mon, guys." Charlie, Jazz, Danny, and Wulf began heading towards the stairs. When Danny noticed that Wulf was still following them, he turned to Wulf.

"SORRY, WULF," he signed, "YOU'VE GOTTA GO."

"WULF SEE FRIEND LATER?"

"YES, WULF, I'LL SEE YOU LATER." With that, Wulf left and Danny proceeded to follow Charlie and Jazz to dinner.

Once there, Alan guided them to seats at the table. The moment dinner began, Jazz and Danny were at each other's throats again, but this time, it wasn't about the skull-bodyguard thing.

"Jazz, I'm _not_ going in there," Danny said angrily.

"Why not?" Jazz asked. "You could find Zapley and get rid of him if you go into the Zone!"

"I'm not going!"

"But, I'll go with you, and we can take Charlie—"

Charlie looked up when he heard his name. "_Huh?_"

"—and Wulf can come, too, and—"

"**_I'M NOT GOING!_**" Danny screamed. His eyes were glowing green, as were his hands.

"Okay, Danny, you don't have to go," Jazz said quietly, "but I'm still gonna make sure you don't find that _thing_."

Danny growled as he slumped back in his chair. He closed his eyes and spoke under his breath for a few minutes, then opened his eyes. "I'm not hungry," he mumbled as he stood up.

"I'm done my dinner, too," Jazz said, grabbing her and Danny's plates as she too stood up. Danny followed her into the kitchen, grumbling the whole time. Jazz dumped the dishes in the sink.

"Jazz, I don't care if I find the skull or not."

"Well, _I_ do." Jazz turned to look Danny in the eye. "Danny, I don't like the fact that I feel like I have to make sure it's actually you every time you wake up. I don't like the fact that you have _other people_ stuck up in your head. I don't like the fact that some creepy, insane, creepy, psycho, creepy, idiotic creep named Zapley is after you. Danny, _I don't like this!_ It's way too weird, and this is coming from the girl who grew up around Mom and Dad! This whole situation is freaking me out, and I don't feel like I know you anymore!" Tears were streaking down Jazz's face by now. "Danny, I—_ohmigosh, what **is** that!_" Jazz screamed, pointing at something moving across the floor.

Danny looked down at it and realized it was a skull. "Jazz, we gotta get outta here!" Jazz grabbed Danny's hand and dragged him through three rooms and into a hallway. When she stopped, she gasped for breath.

"Stay… here. I'll… get Charlie," she panted as she took off again for the dining room. When she got there, she said quickly, "Charlie-I-need-you-come-on!" and pulled Charlie back to that hallway. Once there, they looked around for Danny. Unfortunately, no lights were on in the hallway and the switch didn't work. However, they could hear whispers and laughter. "Darn it, Danny, _where are you!_"

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With Danny.

As Jazz left, Danny slid down the wall he had previously been leaning on. Suddenly, he was plunged into darkness and surrounded by maniacal laughing. In a puff of blue smoke, Zapley appeared.

"Great, I'm dreaming," Danny thought.

"No, this is real," Zapley answered.

"What? How'd you—I said that out loud, didn't I?"

"Wow, you _are _smart, aren't you?" Zapley smirked while Danny glared. Zapley sobered. "Look, the reason why I'm here is to tell you that I'm not the one planting those skulls."

"**_WHAT?_**"

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A/N: Wow, bet none of you saw that coming! (Just to let you know, I didn't see that either until, like, three minutes ago.) _Anyway_, I need four people to be, well, victims of Zapley (or, whoever it is that's the villain in this little story.) More on the way soon, I'm about a fourth done the next chappy! Well, read and review! (Please?)


	12. Leo

A/N: Okay, sorry about the wait, but I had a little trouble with this chappy. But, doing this free-style worked on AIA, so I'm gonna try it here. Okay? Okay. Here we go!

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"B—But in those dreams," Danny stuttered.

"Those 'dreams' are just that, _dreams_," Zapley replied. "My 'revenge' was just scaring you into thinking all these people were dead and you could have saved them."

"Then, why are they all—"

"Dead? Because, someone else found out about my plan, and they decided to make it reality. He's going to keep killing unless those dreams stop. He's also the one planting those skulls."

"So, who is he?"

"I, uh, can't remember."

"WHAT!"

"Sorry! You _know_ how absent-minded I can be!"

"_Okay_, so, stop the dreams."

"I can't."

"_Why not?_" Danny whined.

"The way I made those dreams was by turning one of your fears into a night-time reality. They're going to happen, _no matter what_. But, there is _one_ way to stop them: _beat the guy who's killing those people!_ Anything and everything that happens in reality will alter the dreams. You can still save those people."

"Okay, I will. Look, I'm sorry about Skulker killing you and that I thought it was you."

"It's okay. It's my fault for sending you those dreams in the first place. But you should know that I'm not very violent at all. Oh, to let you know, according to my plans, it's going to _seem_ like Charlie gets attacked, but that's actually just to give him an equation to figure out where the last attack will be. Oh, but _you_ have to figure it out."

"Aw, man."

"Look, we're in a parallel dimension right now. Anyone else in this hallway is, too. If you ever need to talk to me again, just call and I'll bring you back here." Danny nodded. "Oh, and I feel _really_ sorry for you, Danny."

"Why?"

"Leo is a jerk. I'm sorry you're going to be stuck with him."

"Boy, is that right!" A blonde girl with gray eyes walked up, as did a brown haired, blue-green eyed boy.

"Sorry, Danny," the boy, Marty, said, "I tried to keep her from coming. Didn't work too well, obviously."

"Obviously," Danny said.

"Leo is EVIL! He's a complete maniac!" the girl, Lizzy, screamed.

"He hit on her when they were in college," Marty replied to Danny's unasked question.

"Oh."

"He's insane!"

"Right now, so are you."

"Marty, I'm not in the mood right now…"

"Lizzy, I'm sorry, but you need to calm down!"

"I'll calm down when that skull goes away!" Lizzy screamed, pointing shakily at a skull on the floor. Danny jumped.

"What's that doing here?" he screamed at Zapley.

"It must have followed you into the hallway! I'm sorry! I didn't know it was here, okay?"

"WHOA!" Jazz and Charlie yelled as they fell forward in front of Danny. "Uh, hi?"

"Jazz? Charlie? What are you two doing here?"

"Why are you talking to _him?_" Jazz squealed, pointing at Zapley.

"Obviously, they didn't hear the whole conversation," Marty said.

"Obviously," Lizzy mumbled. She turned to Danny, "You should fill them in."

"Yeah, I will. _Later._ Bye, Zapley."

"Good bye, Fenton." Zapley, Marty, and Lizzy faded away, and suddenly all the lights in the hallway turned back on.

"What was _that_ all about?" Charlie asked.

"You have _no_ idea…" Danny muttered. "This is getting completely insane!" He looked down with his eyes closed, "I'm _sooo_ confused…" He opened his eyes and gasped. His eyes remained unblinking on the skull in front of him.

"No, oh no!" Jazz said as she grabbed the now-unconscious Danny. "This just isn't our day, is it?"

"Obviously," Charlie answered.

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An hour later in Danny and Jazz's (temporary) room.

"_Ohhh_…" Danny said as he sat up. Jazz and Charlie rushed over. Don was leaning against the wall in the corner.

"Danny, are you okay?" Jazz asked. She was staring at his eyes.

"I'm fine, but I'm not Danny," the boy said. He pushed Jazz away. "Back off, would ya?"

"Danny?" Charlie asked. Jazz shook her head.

"That's not Danny, it's Leo," she said.

"But his eyes are blue!"

"Of _course_ my eyes are blue, my eyes have _always_ been blue!"

"Can we talk to Danny, please?" Jazz asked, noticing that Leo's eyes were slightly darker than her brother's. At least she'd know how to tell them apart.

Leo's eyes glazed over, then became lighter. Danny shook his head, saying, "What happened?"

"Leo," Jazz answered quickly.

"Oh, boy," Danny said, just now hearing Lizzy and Leo fighting inside his head. "Do they have to be so _loud?_" He grabbed his head.

"Danny?" Charlie asked, staring at the boy.

"What?" he replied, looking up but wincing.

"Are you okay? You don't look so good…"

"I have two people fighting inside my head and a third trying to calm them down. OF _COURSE_ I DON'T LOOK SO GOOD!"

Charlie backed away. "Okay, okay, I was just asking…"

"Sorry, Charlie, but he can get a little upset sometimes," Jazz said. "Probably just a side effect of his gho—" She noticed Don and changed her mind in the middle of the word. "—ost friends! Right, Charlie?"

"Uh, yeah! His ghost friends!" He too looked nervously at Don, who noticed right away.

"Okay, spill," Don said, leaning towards them and crossing his arms.

"Um, what do you mean?" Jazz asked nervously.

"You know what I mean."

"Go ahead and tell him, Jazz, he won't believe it anyway," Danny answered, looking up smugly, even if he was still in pain.

"Fine, oh stubborn brother of mine," Jazz muttered. She had thought ahead for this kind of thing. Taking a deep breath, she said, "Danny and his friends get rid of the ghosts in town and are friends with a lot of them."

Danny and Don both stared at her in confusion. "What?" Don stared at Danny.

"Uh, I mean, what do you mean, a _lot_ of them? I'm only friends with, like, two!"

"Uh-huh," Don said, disbelief laced through his words.

"Um, isn't it kinda late? I think I should get to bed…"

"Say no more, little brother," Jazz said. "Out, out, both of you!" She shooed the two men out of there room and shut the door.

"Thanks, Jazz," Danny said, eyes already halfway shut.

"No problem, Danny."

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A/N: Okay! Sorry about the wait, hope this chappy makes up for it, and I CAN'T WAIT FOR ULTIMATE ENEMY, IDENTITY CRISIS, AND FENTON MENACE! W00T-NESS FOR BUTCH HARTMAN and those other guys who help. YAY! Bye y'all! (And yes, I am on caffeine)


	13. The Cut

A/N: Okay! I've decided to work on this story first, _possibly_ take down Changes of Heart, then work on my other stories _one at a time_. The whole "do-five-stories-at-once" thing isn't working for me since school has started. Those out there reading this, please tell others that I'm taking down CoH because you guys _can_ persuade me to keep it up. Just letting you know ;) . Anyway, here's the next chappy!

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The Next Morning.

"Danny, get up!" Jazz yelled in Danny's ear. Danny fell off the bed (which Jazz had been "nice" enough to let him sleep on after falling asleep on it) screaming, "I'M UP! I'M UP!" He stared around, and, noticing that Jazz was smirking, said bitterly, "I hate you…"

"No you don't!" Jazz said, trying to keep from laughing.

"Yes, I DO!"

"No you don't, you hate me waking you up like that."

"No, I hate _you_."

"Whatever, we need to get to the hotel."

"Why?" Danny asked suspiciously.

"Because, some people are going to get sent back home."

"What? Who?" Danny was scared to think that Sam and Tuck might be sent back and he'd be stuck there alone.

"I don't know yet, that's why we have to go!"

"Okay."

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At the hotel.

"Okay," Don began once everyone was together, "we called you here to tell you all that most of you will be going back to Amity Park." He started naming the pairs that would be staying. A few minutes later, he came to the end. "Grey and…uh, what's her name?"

"Paulina!" Paulina answered huffily from the crowd of kids.

"Right, Manson and Foley, and… the Fentons." Jazz, Danny, Tuck, and Sam looked at each other happily. They were gonna stay together! "You all will be staying in the hotel. The rest of you will be taken back to Amity Park via our vans." Don's statement was met with blank and/or confused stares. He sighed, "That means we'll be taking you back in the vans." More stares. "Just get in the vans!"

The crowd of kids started moving to the vans except the ten that were chosen to stay. "So," Sam said, "what do we do now? I mean, why would they want _us_ to stay out of everyone else?"

"Simple," Charlie answered as he walked over to them, "Don and the others have decided that the ten of you know the most about the ghosts and, more importantly, his 'Ghost Boy'."

"I'm gonna get _really _tired of that name…" Danny said angrily. The others laughed.

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"So, Danny, have you found a way to stop the bad guy—whoever that is?" Tucker asked once he, Danny, Sam, Jazz, and Charlie had gotten to Sam and Tuck's hotel room.

"Not a clue." Danny's reply sounded as though he wasn't worried. To be precise, he was more worried about the constant fighting in his head. It kept reminding him of when Youngblood was invisible to all parents, adults, older sisters who thought they were adults, etc. Basically, he was getting incredibly ticked off.

_WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?_ Lizzy screamed in his head. _IF I'VE TOLD YOU ONCE, I'VE TOLD YOU A QUADRILLION TIMES! STAY AWAY FROM ME!_

_I'LL COME NEAR YOU IF I WANT, THERE'S NOT MUCH ROOM UP HERE, ANYWAY!_ Leo argued.

_Guys, please be quiet!_ Marty begged.

_NO WAY!_ Leo and Lizzy yelled back.

"WOULD YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP!" Danny screamed. Unfortunately, Jazz and Sam, who were arguing over what Danny should do, heard him and stopped talking, looking angry. "Um, not you two, the two ARGUING IN MY HEAD!" He looked up madly, as if hoping to see the two offenders.

"Danny, calm down," Jazz said. "I know it's hard on you, but you need to remain calm at all costs."

"You try to remain calm with some insane creep after you and three people WHO COULD SHUT UP! in your head."

"Danny, whatever you do, you need to be careful—"

"Because I don't want you getting hurt or getting someone else stuck in your head," Danny said along with Jazz.

"You only started saying that yesterday, and I can already copy it," Danny said, slightly proud.

"Danny, you continue to make fun of me like that, and you won't be only half-ghost!"

"Okay, geez!" Danny said, looking slightly scared. "You don't need to do that, and I guess I should start worrying about whatever-his-name-is wants from me before he'll leave me alone."

"That could be a problem," Sam said, looking fearfully at the door.

"Why?" Danny asked, turning around.

"Because I know your little secret!" Terry Lake was standing in the door, smirking.

"WHAT!" Danny yelled. He turned to Sam and Tuck, "I thought you said that she didn't know!"

"We—we did!" Sam said. "I mean, we stopped her from telling Don, so we were hoping that she would just think—"

"What, that she had dreamt that I was half-ghost? Didn't work too well, did it?" Danny replied angrily.

"Danny," Sam began again.

"Sam, you don't get it! If Don finds out, or if Mom finds out," Danny shuddered, "_bad _stuff will happen!"

"What?" Charlie asked.

"Mom hunts ghosts, and she has pretty much deadly aim."

"How would Don knowing be bad?"

"I don't know, but it would!"

"Danny, that made no sense," Jazz said.

"I KNOW IT MADE NO SENSE!" Danny yelled. His eyes were glowing.

"How would Don knowing _what_ be bad?" Don asked as he walked in the open door.

"Don!" everyone yelled in shock. Terry got over it first and turned to Don.

"About my phone call the other day…"

"Yes?" Don asked.

"Well—"

"Her battery died on her mysteriously," Sam said hastily.

"And you would know this _how?_" Don asked Sam.

"We were right there when it died."

"Terry, is this true?"

"Well, yes, but—"

"Okay, then. So, charge the stupid phone."

"B—but, Don—oh, never mind." Terry walked out in a huff.

"What's her problem?" Don's question was met with a suspiciously nervous silence.

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An hour later (3:00 p.m.)

"Guys," Danny said, yawning, "I'm really tired…"

"Why?" Sam and Tuck asked, frowning.

"No clue, but I think I'm gonna rest for a bit…"

"Okay, Danny."

Danny walked slowly to his new room at the hotel (each of the ten had their own) and lay down on the bed. Almost immediately, he fell asleep.

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Dream sequence

"Seems the smoke is taking a bigger effect on you than I expected. Oh, well…" The voice that had haunted Danny's dreams for the past three nights spoke once again. Now, though, he knew that it was not truly who it sounded like it was. Marty, Lizzy, and a black-haired, dark blue-eyed boy, Leo, appeared next to Danny.

That the guy who killed us? _Leo thought to the others. They nodded. _Boy, I'd love to just— _he made a fist in the air and swung it._

So would I, _Lizzy thought angrily._

In the familiar blue smoke, Zapley—or, in reality, The Villain—appeared in a room where a gray-haired, brown-eyed man was in bed. He didn't even wake as The Villain swung his machete across his neck. Then, cackling, The Villain said, "Four down, six to go. Next up is Dillingham."

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Danny woke with a jerk, screaming. Charlie, Jazz, Sam, and Tucker ran in, looking worried and scared.

"Another one?" Jazz asked quietly after a long, nervous, awkward pause.

All Danny could do was nod as he flopped back down on the bed, groaning in annoyance. _Why can't these idiots just LEAVE ME ALONE for once?_

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A/N: Now isn't that better? Sorry, just fixed it because it was a little short, I know, but I just figured out the rest of the story! W00T-ness for me! Anyway, review please! I've been having a really cruddy time at school recently (which explains the long wait for this chappy) and I've been sick this weekend, so… reviews would be nice! Bye, y'all!


	14. Finding Out

A/N: To those of you reading this (and I KNOW you're out there!): I need more reviews! I have the rest of this story outlined, but if I don't get AT LEAST five reviews within a month or so, I'll just take it down! So, with that said, READ AND REVIEW! And here's your newest chappy!

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Don came running in slightly later than the others, along with Terry. "What happened? Who screamed?" he asked in a rush.

Everyone became silent. They all feared that Danny would, in his tired state, let something slip about his ghost-mode.

Danny, meanwhile, had decided that it would be best to let Don know. "I screamed," Danny said. "I had a dream that another person was dead."

"Who was it this time?" Don asked, putting away the gun that he had out in case of a real attack.

"Someone named Simons."

"Not Tom Simons?" Charlie asked, shocked. The man was pretty nice and had worked with Charlie on some consulting.

"I'd guess so."

"But then, who will be next?"

"Someone named Dillingham."

"You mean Peter?"

"I guess…"

Charlie turned to Don, looking fearful. "Don, this is getting out of control!"

"I know, Buddy," Don answered. Suddenly Don's cell rang. He answered it, "Eppes."

"_Don, it's David,"_ David said over his phone. _"There's been a ghost attack a block away from the hotel!"_

"What? What's going on? What ghost?" Danny's eyes widened at Don's questions.

"_We're not sure, but he's looking for Ghost Boy. We were on our way back from dropping off the people at Amity Park, and this ghost popped out of nowhere!"_

"What's he look like?" Don asked. Danny strained to hear David's answer and was happy to see that his ghost-mode now allowed him to have keen hearing.

"_He's got a white suit, a face like a skull, and speaks in a Texan accent. He keeps saying he wants Ghost Boy in his jail."_

"Walker!" Danny gasped as his ghost sense warned him of the coming ghost. The others looked at him.

"David, where is he now?" Don asked anxiously, thinking Danny had seen the ghost outside.

"_Almost at the hotel. I suggest getting everyone out or trying to stop him!"_

"I've got the ghost gun, so I'll go stop him myself," Don answered, heading to the door. "I'll be there in a minute." He hung up, and, as he was walking out the door, Terry glanced back at Danny and said, "He's close to finding out, too, you know," in a threatening way.

Once they were gone, everyone turned to Danny. "What are you going to do?" Sam asked quietly.

"I'm gonna stop Walker, that's what," Danny answered angrily.

"How do you know it's Walker?" Tucker asked skeptically.

"I heard David describe him."

"Awesome! You've got super-hearing?" Tuck said enthusiastically.

"Yes, Tuck, but I've got to get going!" Danny stood up and said, "I'm goin' ghost!" In the familiar white flash, he became Danny Phantom. "I'll be back in a little bit, guys." He flew out the window.

He didn't have to go very far before seeing Walker, who was attacking Don. Danny could see that Don's ghost-gun had been knocked away and he was cornered. Terry was taking refuge with David behind one of the vans. Danny flew down and reflected an ectoplasmic beam that was aimed at Don.

"What do you want, Walker?" Danny asked.

"I want you in my prison, punk!" Walker said.

"I thought we had made a deal!" Danny yelled at him. "You've always been one to play by the rules, why are you breaking the rules of our deal?"

"Because, punk, I've realized that you are unable to defeat Zapley—"

"Because Zapley's not the one doing this!"

"Actually, yes he is!"

"NO, HE'S NOT!"

"That's what you think, punk!"

"That still doesn't answer my question."

"I'm breaking our deal because there's a new terror in the Ghost Zone! Unless someone captures you, this terror will destroy us all!"

"Oh, yeah? What's this terror then?"

"Dan Phantom."

Danny nearly fell out of the air in shock. "W—what?" he gasped. "B—but I locked him up in Clockwork's castle!"

"He escaped from the Fe—"

Danny interrupted, "Y—you mean, he escaped from the Thermos?" he asked. He knew Don was listening and knew that if Don knew about the Fenton Thermos, he would quickly associate Danny Fenton with his 'Ghost Boy'.

"Yes," said Walker irritably, "that's what I had been saying."

"B—but that's impossible!"

"Apparently, it wasn't."

"But, why—?"

"Because he's after _you_, punk," Walker explained. "He wants someone to capture you and bring you to him so he can finish what he started, and had been successful in until Clockwork decided to interfere."

"Then he's gonna want to…" Danny trailed off, afraid for once of what could happen if he was caught by _anyone_. _I'd be a sitting duck for my future evil self to destroy_, he thought bitterly.

Danny looked up, and noticed that Don had grabbed his gun and was firing at Walker. Walker noticed as well.

"Fool," he said quietly before grabbing Don and starting to fly off. Danny quickly took to the sky after them, listening intently to every word.

"If you had just stayed out of the way, you'd have lived. But now, you're gonna become a ghost just like me." With that, Walker dropped Don, who began falling very quickly. Danny sped up and caught him just before he reached the ground.

"Thanks," Don said breathlessly.

"No pro—" Danny began before jerking to a halt. Something moving on the ground had caught his attention and kept it. Lying there was one thing that couldn't have come at a worse time.

It was Simons' skull.

Don looked down as well, and realized with a start what this meant. As Danny's eyes began to glaze, the two dropped to the ground and a white light passed over Danny, whose mouth was partially open. When the light died down, there in human-mode was Danny Fenton, and Don finally realized what Terry had been trying to say.

"Fenton is Phantom!"

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One hour later (5:30 p.m.)

Danny woke up with a jerk and was pleased to notice that he was still himself. Jazz, who was in Danny's face and looking at his eyes, was happy as well.

"Danny?" she asked.

"Yeah, Jazz?" Danny replied, knowing she didn't really have a question. Jazz flung her arms around her brother's neck and began sobbing. Danny, surprised by the sudden showing of emotion, patted her back awkwardly. He looked around to everyone else and said, "Did I miss something?" He nearly repeated his question when he noticed Don leaning in the doorway next to Terry, who was smirking.

Jazz, who was sobbing, answered shakily, "Th—the skull, y—you found it o—outside after you h—had caught Don, a—and you ch—changed back after s—seeing it. Oh, D—Danny, Don kn—knows about Ph—Phantom now!"

"W—What?" Danny asked, stuttering. He looked around again, noticing that Sam also had tears in her eyes, but was trying hard to hide them. Tucker looked simply shocked and actually wasn't speaking out for once. Charlie, well, Charlie seemed to be taking this in stride, but still looked slightly upset. Terry was still smirking, most likely pleased that the secret was out now, but Don looked slightly confused. Danny turned back to Jazz and said, "So, he knows?"

"Y—Yes!" Jazz cried. She stood up suddenly, wiping tears out of her eyes, and Danny fell back against the bed.

"H—he knows?"

"Yes, Danny, I just said that!" Jazz cried angrily.

"So, he really—?"

"YES, DANNY, I'VE ALREADY SAID HE KNOWS!" Jazz screamed.

Don finally spoke up. "How?"

Danny blinked. "How what?"

"How did you become Phantom?"

Danny sighed. "Sam was the one who convinced me to go into the Portal. She said it would be cool if I did. I agreed with her because I had always wanted to see what it was like in there. So, I put on a lab suit, she ripped off the picture of my dad that was on it, and I went inside. Being the klutz that I am, I fell and put my hand against the wall. I accidentally pressed the Portal's 'on' button. Trust our parents to forget something like that. The Portal started up and I got stuck in the middle of it. I came out, gasping, and we realized that the suit I was wearing had been inverted and my eye and hair color had changed. That's what really happened the day of the accident."

"How'd you come up with the name 'Danny Phantom'?"

"That was actually Tucker's idea…" Danny glared at Tucker.

"What? You were always talking about it when you were younger!" Tucker said defensively.

"I was five! I thought that ghost were cool! It's not my fault!" Danny argued.

"…What?" Don asked.

"Danny used to pretend he was a ghost when he was younger," Jazz answered. "Mom and Dad had polluted his mind with the thought that ghosts were real, but I didn't believe them. He enjoyed running around under a bed sheet, screaming 'BOO!', and popping out at people unexpectedly. He'd always say that his name was Danny Phantom, so I have no clue why Mom and Dad haven't figured out the truth yet."

Danny grinned sheepishly and blushed. Don looked at the siblings and raised an eyebrow. "So, how long have you been a… what was it again?"

"A halfa," Danny answered immediately. "It's been, what, almost a year, I guess. About eight months."

"Who all knows?"

"Well, lessee, everyone in the Ghost Zone, Sam, Tuck, Jazz, Charlie, Terry, and you," Danny answered, counting on his fingers. "That's about a million and six."

"Danny, what about _Vlad?_" Sam asked bitterly.

"Oh, right. One million and seven."

Don's brow creased. "Who's Vlad?"

"Vlad Plasmius, the only other halfa," Danny replied.

_That you know of…_ Marty said quietly.

"What?" Danny asked, out loud.

"Danny, no one said anything," Sam said, looking worried.

"No, not you, Marty said something," Danny answered. "Something about 'that I know of…'… I wonder what he meant…"

"Do you think he knows of other halfas?" Tucker asked in amazement.

_Of course he does! _Lizzy said angrily. _You may not, but we do!_

"Hold on, guys," Danny said to everyone. He thought to Lizzy, Leo, and Marty, _What are you talking about?_

_There's three other halfas, _Leo answered.

_How do you three know that?_

_Actually, the FOUR of us do, _a voice Danny knew could only be Simons' replied. _It's strange, but we know almost everything about the Ghost Zone somehow._

_How?_

_He just said, we don't know, _Marty said.

_Wish you guys did. Well, who're the other halfas?_

_They're all girls; you'll meet them soon enough…_ Lizzy replied.

Danny's eyes snapped open, and Jazz gasped.

"Danny, your eyes are brown!"

"My name's Tom, not Danny." Danny quickly took control, but felt extremely dizzy. After blinking a few times, he said, "Whoa, I'm never gonna get used to that…"

"What?" Charlie asked, able to tell that it was actually Danny from his now-blue eyes. Don and Terry simply looked confused.

"Whenever one of them takes over, I get stuck inside my head. It's really confusing…"

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it now," Sam said. "'Cause it's just about time to eat…"

"Great! I'm starving!" both Tucker and Danny yelled. Everyone else laughed.

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In a castle in the Ghost Zone.

"It has begun," a voice said

"What?" another asked.

"Dan has become too powerful. Danny knows of only one way to stop him, but he doesn't want to do it."

"Why not?"

"He doesn't wish to choose either of the two evils…"

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A/N: Oooh, who was that at the end? Whoever can tell me gets a sneak peek at the sequel to this story! Also, there are going to be a total of twenty-four chapters and an epilogue on this. This is now part of a Trilogy; I just don't know what name to give it. Oh, well. If you guys can think of a good name for the Trilogy, you also get a sneak peek at the third book in the Trilogy! Well, gotta go, luv y'all!


	15. FIVE?

A/N: Okay, still only got one review for the last three chappies, but there have been a total of 97 hits on those three chappies! This is upsetting me, and if I don't get any more reviews, I'm gonna think no one likes this story, and I'll take it down, and you'll never know what happens in the end of this and the next two books in the Trilogy (which I still need a name for)! Anyway, enjoy this chappy and REVIEW!

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Inside Danny's head (in the middle of yet ANOTHER argument)

"WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?" Lizzy screamed at Danny. "DON'T LEAVE US WITH _HIM!_ GET HIM OUTTA HERE!" She pointed at Leo.

"I can't," Danny said helplessly.

"GET RID OF HIM! NO ONE LIKES HIM! NO ONE WANTS HIM HERE ANYWAY!"

"I'M RIGHT HERE, YA KNOW!" Leo yelled at Lizzy. Marty and a gray haired, brown eyed boy, Tom, were watching the two as if they were watching a tennis match. Danny, tired and upset, but mostly tired, was stuck in the middle of this "heated discussion" (for they refused to call it a fight) with no way out.

"I KNOW, WHICH IS WHY I'M UPSET IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Lizzy continued.

"WELL, IN THAT CASE, STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

"IT'S KIND OF HARD TO, SEEING AS THERE'S NO ROOM IN HERE!"

"WELL, THEN, STAY ON THAT SIDE AND I'LL STAY ON THIS SIDE!"

"THEN YOU'RE BY ALL _MY_ STUFF!"

"THEN MOVE YOUR STUFF, YOU LAZY, IGNORANT, LITTLE—!"

"**_ENOUGH!_**" Danny screamed. He looked angrily at Lizzy and Leo, who had shut up at the yelling. "**_I'M SICK AND TIRED OF ALL THIS FIGHTING! IT'S GETTING US NOWHERE, AND IT'S KINDA IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANY OF YOU TO LEAVE, AND TRUST ME, I'VE TRIED TO FORCE YOU ALL OUT MORE THAN ONCE ALREADY!_**" He calmed down slightly, looking around at the four shocked faces. "One was okay, two was hectic, three was pushing it, but four? And there seems to be more coming as well! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" His powers acted up, setting off an ectoplasmic blast that hit the side of the room they were in, which was actually—

"Ugh, my head!" Danny groaned, falling to his knees and holding the sides of his head. Marty and Tom rushed over to him to help him up. Leo and Lizzy, however, started fighting again, literally.

"THIS IS _YOUR_ FAULT!" Lizzy screamed, launching herself at Leo and pushing him down. Leo shoved her away angrily and punched her, then walked away. Lizzy grabbed her nose, which hurt slightly from the attack, but luckily wasn't broken.

"Do they always fight like that?" Tom asked.

"Yes," Marty replied. "Ever since they were in school and he hit on her. She had a boyfriend, but he kept coming after she told him that. I guess, he's never gotten over it, and she's never forgiven him."

Tom and Danny winced. "That's kinda… harsh," Danny said.

"Yeah, but it's the truth."

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Real World

Danny came out of his head, still groaning slightly from the pain. Sam and Jazz looked at him anxiously.

"What?" he asked.

"You nearly passed out on our way to dinner!" Sam exclaimed.

"What's wrong, little brother?" Jazz asked worriedly.

"Nothing, I just was talking with all of them. Apparently, Lizzy and Leo had a… bad history with each other."

"Oh," both girls sighed. "C'mon," Jazz continued, "it's time for dinner."

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After dinner.

"Guys, I think we'd better go back to bed, it's already really late," Danny told his friends. Sam immediately noticed how tired Danny looked.

"Okay, Danny," she said, opening her door and walking in. "G'night."

"Night," he said, stifling a yawn. He said good night to everyone else before finally heading into his own room and going to sleep. However, his sleep wasn't all that restful.

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Dream sequence.

"_This is getting too easy!" came the mocking voice Danny had grown to hate._

That's him, then? _Tom asked. Everyone nodded. _Wonderful. _His face was grim._

_In the signature blue smoke, The Villain, or T.V. for short, appeared next to a man who was wide awake and looked terrified._

"_I take it you're the one who's been killing my fellow professors. I do read the newspapers, you know."_

"_Ah, yes, hello, Dillingham."_

"_Is that really you, William?" the man questioned._

_T.V., or, William, looked incredibly ticked. A flash of his machete and the blonde, green-eyed man was dead._

_A grim cackle, and T.V. stated, "Five down, five to go, now onto Ringstern."_

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End dream sequence

Danny sighed, running a hand through his hair after waking up in a cold sweat. "This is getting old," he said to himself. "Why can no one leave me alone?" He looked up as he put his hand back down on the bed, but instead of resting atop a nice, soft mattress, his hand fell upon… a skull.

He gasped. "NOOO—!" was all he was able to say before fainting again.

In a rush, Sam, Jazz, Tuck, Charlie, Don, and Terry ran into Danny's room. Upon entering, they were all shocked to see that Danny was unconscious, a small pile of ashes in front of him. Jazz… was… **_TICKED_**.

"Oh, no, not again," she groaned. She pushed Danny off the bed, causing him to wake up quite suddenly. "I WILL NOT _STAND_ FOR THIS!"

"Geez, Jazz," Danny gasped, slowly standing up, wincing, "you think _I'm_ happy about this?"

Jazz looked slightly upset, "I know you're not, Danny. I just need to think this through. You know I've always tried to find the logical reason for something, but there's—there's _no_ logic in this, _at all!_"

"You think I haven't noticed, Jazz? Try forcing logic into the four—"

"_FIVE!"_ all five voices in his head screamed.

"—five people stuck inside my head, while they're fighting and screaming and NEED TO SHUT UP!" He shook his head quickly, causing all five people to be shaken over to one side. All five quickly quieted. "Face it, Jazz, this has got me just as upset as it's got you, if not more!"

"I—I know, Danny," Jazz whispered.

"_No, you don't, Jazz!_"

"Yeah, I do, Kiddo." Danny paused at the sound of his old nickname.

"…I—I'm sorry, Jazzy…"

"Danny, we're worried," Sam said, nodding at Tuck and Charlie, "I mean, you haven't been yourself for—what?—five days, it's got us upset. You need to calm down and rationalize this."

"Yeah, Danny," Tuck said, "we don't want you to get stressed out or anything… well, _more_ stressed out…"

"Danny, just think, in a few days, this'll be over!" Charlie said, being optimistic, as usual.

"I guess. But there's always a chance that one of the attacks could go _really_ bad, or I could let William escape, or—"

"William?" five voices chorused.

"Y—you don't mean…?" Jazz began.

"I'm not sure, but it certainly seems that way, doesn't it?" Danny answered her unfinished question. Jazz nodded, and the others looked confused as Jazz and Danny continued on about something that only they could understand.

"Then, he's not the bad guy?"

"Nope."

"But, William is?"

"Sure seems that way."

"So it's not him, it's…?"

"Yeah… yeah, it _has_ to be!"

"So, we've been going after the wrong—"

"Zapley!" both finished, looking at each other. Everyone else was surprised.

"So, there's two Zapleys?" Sam asked.

"Yes. William and Gregory. They're twins," Jazz answered.

"How do you two know that?" Don questioned, filling in the role of detective.

Danny blushed, looked down, and said in a rush, "GregwasmytutorandhetoldmeallabouthisfamilyincludingWillsoIlearnedabouthimthatway."

The others stared. "Uh…" Tuck said, "in English?"

Danny blushed more and said more slowly, "Greg was my tutor and he told me all about his family including Will so I learned about him that way."

"You were tutored by the guy we thought was the bad guy?" Sam asked, incredulous.

"Um, yeah…"

"So _that's_ why you said he already knew where you lived!" Charlie exclaimed, remembering what Danny had told Plasmius that one day.

"Yeah. I didn't know that the reason why he hadn't come straight to my house was because he didn't know where it was. I thought he, like all my other enemies, was toying with me before 'going in for the kill'."

"Well, now you know," Tuck said. Terry leaned against the wall in a huff, seemingly thinking that this conversation was getting them nowhere.

"Can we get on with our investigation yet?" she asked indignantly.

Danny seemed offended. "Fine."

"So, what information do we have?" Don asked, pulling out a notepad and pen.

"Um, our opponent is Will Zapley," Danny began. "He died about the same time as his twin, but I can't remember how… He seems to blame me for his death. Um… that's all I got."

Jazz took over. "There have been five attacks, and he's planning at least five more. He's planting skulls so the ghosts of those victims are implanted in Danny."

"Oh! He's going to give me a problem I have to work out for the… sixth attack from now!" Danny said.

"Okay, so he's planning six more attacks," Don recapped. "When's he gonna attack you?" He stared at Danny.

"I have no clue. Right now, it seems like he won't. All I know is, he's going after the people who were at that math convention."

"That's over a thousand professors!" Charlie gaped.

"The people who were talking about ghosts," Danny clarified. "That's you, Professor Fleinhardt, Professor Ringstern, … who else?"

Charlie continued. "The… Fleetson twins, that's all."

"Okay, so we don't know who the sixth attack will be on," Don stated.

"Or _where_ it will be," Sam pointed out.

"Right, and we won't know until Danny receives and calculates that equation."

"In other words, _never_," Danny groaned.

"You can do it, Danny, just work hard on it!" Charlie said. Then, he whispered, "Plus, I can always help you, at least a little."

"Thanks."

"Any time. It's my job, anyway."

"So, now what?" Danny asked, looking around at the others.

"Now, we wait for him to send you another dream," Don sighed.

"You won't try to stop him?" Danny asked incredulously. "We know where he'll attack and who, why not stop him now?"

"You've told us before, Fenton, that it is near-impossible for humans to attack and/or stop ghosts."

"Yeah, if you don't have the right equipment!"

"Well, we don't have the time to get the right equipment. If we ask your parents, they will question why we need it, and I can't find any other way to get equipment."

"I know _one _way…" Danny sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm not gonna like it, though…"

"You mean…?" Tuck trailed off, he, Danny, Sam, and Jazz sharing a look.

"I'm _gladly_ open to any other ideas," Danny replied.

"What?" Don questioned, becoming slightly annoyed.

"The only way I can think of to get equipment is by asking… _Vlad_," Danny replied, saying the name with disgust. There was a small flash of light, and Vlad was hovering next to him.

"You rang, son?"

"_What have I told you?_" Danny said angrily, eyes glowing bright green.

"Ah, but you make it so easy." Vlad grinned. Danny calmed down slightly, knowing he needed the older half-ghost's help.

"We need ghost hunting equipment," Danny said with a slight edge.

"Why not ask your idiot father, then?"

"Because, that would give rise to some rather… _unwanted_ questions as to the need of such equipment."

"See, you _are_ becoming like me," Vlad grinned again.

"Whatever, just give us some equipment."

The smirk vanished. "Fine, Daniel, but know that this is only because of my despise for anyone who kills you… before me, of course."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Vlad vanished, then reappeared moments later with a pile of anti-ghost apparatus.

"There, boy, use it well," he said, beginning to fly off. "You owe me…" he muttered.

"Well, now we have the equipment," Don said, slightly confused at the exchange.

Danny picked up one of the weapons suspiciously and aimed it at the ground. He fired, and was the only one not surprised when a flag popped out of it that said "Yeah, right, _son_" on it. "I knew he was no good," he said grimly. He turned to the others, who were in shock still. "The weapons are all fake. That's the only way he could have gotten back as fast, and the only way he would've let us have them."

"So, we wait?" Charlie asked, stunned.

"We wait," Danny replied bitterly.

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An hour later, Danny's room.

Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Jazz were holding a Team Phantom meeting. Jazz was there because she forced Danny into letting her come.

"Danny, can't I be a _real_ member?" she was asking. "You _know_ I've gotten better with the equipment!"

Danny sighed, rubbing his forehead for the tenth time the last hour. "I _know_, Jazz. Just, not yet, okay?"

"_Why?_" she whined.

"Too much other stuff…" Danny tapped on his head, hoping to keep the fighters quiet.

"_Lizzy, Leo, please calm down!" Marty was saying._

"_SHUT UP!" Dillingham yelled, getting upset with them._

"_They aren't going to listen to you, you know, Pete," Tom replied quietly._

"_GET AWAY FROM ME!" Lizzy squealed, running away from Leo, who had taken a step closer to her._

"_IT'S NOT MY FAULT THERE'S NO ROOM IN HERE!" Leo screamed at her._

"_I DON'T CARE WHO THEY LISTEN TO AS LONG AS THEY SHUT UP!" Pete replied._

"_They're not going to."_

"_THEY'D BETTER!"_

"_THEY WON'T!" Tom was now screaming as well._

"_STAY AWAY OR I'LL KILL YOU!" Lizzy was screaming, getting very upset._

"_IT'S KINDA IMPOSSIBLE, SEEING AS THERE'S NO STINKIN' **ROOM** UP HERE!" Leo yelled back._

"**_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!_**" Danny screamed, startling Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. He jumped up, ran over to a wall, and banged his head several times. Then, he jerked his head back and forth several times, then jerked it up and down repeatedly. Once done, he flopped back down on his bed, enjoying the silence of the five occupants in his head.

"Ahhhhhhhh," he sighed, closing his eyes. Jazz, Sam, Tuck, and now Charlie, Don, and Terry, who had come when they heard Danny scream, were all staring in shock. Danny groaned as the five people he was stuck with began to yell at him for shaking them around so roughly. "I think I'm going insane…" he sighed.

"Yes, yes you are," Terry said, grinning. Danny glared at her.

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A/N: Okay, um, besides the fact that Terry's being a jerk, how did you guys like it? There's about… ten chappies left. Next chapter, Too Many Voices! Byes, y'all! R & R!


	16. Too Many VOICES!

A/N: Okay, here's chapter I-lost-count-five-chapters-ago-and-have-no-freakin'-clue-which-one-this-is! How's that for a mouthful? ;) Anyway, here's the next chappy, with a small preview of the following chappy at the end. So, here we go!

And muchos gracias (sorry, just had my Spanish II mid-term (they reek, btw!) and am stuck speaking Spanish… and the occasional French…) to the Great Susinko and sekamu for the reviews that are keeping me typing right now!

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Danny looked away from Terry, who was still smirking. His head started to pound as Lizzy and Leo began yet another screaming match. Unfortunately, they took it to another level.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Danny screamed, his eyes flashing gray. Everyone around him backed up before realizing that the control had switched. Lizzy was speaking.

His eyes turned blue-green as he quietly asked Lizzy, "Please, can you two stop fighting?"

Back to gray as he said, "NOT UNTIL HE LEAVES ME ALONE!"

Sam, Tucker, and Jazz looked terrified as they watched Danny bicker like that. Jazz was reminded of when Youngblood came and was invisible to all adults… and her.

Charlie was also worried, but more about the fact that Danny wasn't talking. He had noticed that it was Lizzy and Marty speaking through Danny, not Danny himself. The genius was getting rather upset at this.

Don and Terry were just trying to figure out what was going on. They had seen some crazy cases where a person was schizophrenic, but never a case where they really did have other people talking through them.

Danny, on the other hand, was surprised to find himself stuck inside his head again. It seemed that Lizzy and Marty were disappearing when they were in control of him. This fact scared him slightly, thinking about what could happen if control switched when he was fighting ghosts, or flying, or… Actually, he decided not to think about that right now, as it was just adding to his headache.

Suddenly, Danny's eyes went back to light blue as he yelled, "YOU THINK I LIKE THIS ANY BETTER THAN YOU DO? COME _ON_, LIZZY, YOU _KNOW_ THAT WE AREN'T GONNA SOLVE _ANYTHING_ BY FIGHTING ABOUT IT!" Everyone was surprised, thinking Danny had come back. Then, Sam realized something about the way he was acting. She didn't really understand what was going on, but she _knew_ that was not Danny. She suddenly noticed that the only one so far who had blue eyes was Leo, but how come they were suddenly _light_ blue?

She shook the thought from her head as she said, "Leo, let Danny come back."

The others stared at her in shock, having thought that this _was_ Danny. Leo turned to her and smirked before his eyes glazed over. Danny shook his head, feeling very disoriented, and looked around at the others. They were now staring at him.

"What?" he asked, trying to figure out what was going on. The others all shook their heads. Danny sat back and closed his eyes…

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In Danny's mind.

Danny sat back, listening to the (for once!) silence. Lizzy and Leo had gone to separate sides of his head and stopped fighting. Then, he noticed Leo was talking to himself. He edged over, listening intently to Leo's … conversation?

"I can get out of here," he was saying, "all I have to do is take over the control of his body and I'm free!" He shook his head and complained, "But how am I supposed to do that? He's always in charge, and he can take back control whenever he wants to! And everyone else will try to stop me…" He trailed off, then smirked as an idea came to him. "They won't stop me if they think _I'm_ him! That's it! I'll lock him up, make sure they think I'm him, and take over this stupid boy! I'll be in charge, and no one will stop me 'cause they'll think I'm him! This plan is perfect!" He smirked again, and started mumbling details to himself. Danny, on the other hand, looked terrified. He had just heard that Leo was becoming power-hungry. A power-hungry genius would be a _very_ bad thing. The worst part was, he would probably get away with it. No one would notice if Leo went missing, seeing as no one liked him anyway. If Leo did look like him, and he went missing, then everyone would think that Leo was him… This plan seemed foolproof, and it was making Danny _very_ worried. Leo looked up, and, for a moment, glared at Danny, then smirked as Danny was thrown back into the real world.

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Real world.

Danny jumped up, looking scared. Jazz ran over to him, worried. She immediately asked what was wrong.

Danny just shook his head. Somehow he couldn't remember what he just heard. It was making him very angry and even more worried than before. He knew there was something bad going on, but he couldn't remember what. All he could remember were two blue eyes changing into two glowing red eyes before he came back here. This was getting him even more upset… and tired. He suddenly wanted to just fall asleep. He yawned, feeling even more tired. He looked at a clock and saw that it was nearly time to go back to sleep. He had been inside his head for a full day, just enjoying the silence, and hearing something…

Danny shook the thought out of his head and told Jazz that he was going to sleep. She nodded and sent everyone out of the room. She turned off the light as she left, noticing that her little brother was already asleep. "G'night, Kiddo…" she whispered as she closed the door.

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Dream sequence

"_This is starting to bore me, so I'll just speed up the rest, shall I?"_ _Will's voice said before he laughed._

Not again!_ Danny groaned as Marty, Tom, Lizzy, Leo, and Pete appeared. They all looked at the room they were in. A man with white hair and black eyes was there getting ready to go to sleep. In the blue smoke, Will showed up and sliced Ringstern's head off quickly. He cackled and said, "Six down, four to go, the Fleetsons are next!"_

How do you stand this? _Pete asked._

I don't_, was Danny's grim reply._

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End dream sequence.

Danny sat up quickly as Jazz ran into his room. She had thought that something was wrong and stayed right outside the door, waiting for the dream to happen. She grabbed Danny and pulled him into her room where everyone else was, saying, "We're gonna keep you away from that stupid skull this time!"

Danny sat down on Jazz's bed as everyone stared. He was exhausted and just wanted to sleep some more, but Jazz wasn't going to let him.

"Do you know where the skull is?" she asked.

"No, Jazz," Danny sighed.

"Then we're gonna make sure you don't find it!" she said happily. Danny sighed again and told her it was impossible to do that. She wouldn't take no for an answer.

The next day found Danny annoyed, Jazz acting like a body guard, and everyone else trying to stay out of Jazz's way. Unfortunately, around noon all their precautions failed. Danny had turned invisible to get away from Jazz's nagging, and accidentally stumbled upon the skull. He just sighed before fainting again, having accepted his fate, even if no one else did. Besides, it would've found him anyway.

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With Jazz (noon)

"Well, Danny, you getting hungry?" Jazz asked, turning around to speak with her brother… who wasn't there anymore. She growled before stomping off to look for him. She opened the door to his room, thinking that he had gone back in there to go to sleep. She was halfway right. He had gone back in, but he had collapsed halfway to his bed, a pile of ashes in front of him. Jazz broke down right there. She fell to her knees and cried, just as Danny woke up. She looked at him and, upon seeing pure black eyes looking back at her, threw her arms around him and cried into his shoulder.

Brad Ringstern stared in disbelief and shock at the teenager that was crying on him. He patted her back awkwardly and said, "Miss? What's wrong?"

Jazz chuckled slightly at the word "Miss". "I'm just sorry that you got stuck here. May I please talk to my brother Danny?" she asked calmly, pulling away from him in time to see him nod as his eyes glazed over. Blue eyes looked back at her in confusion as she hugged Danny.

"Jazz?" he asked.

She looked up and said, "Shh." She went back to hugging him, and he just took the time to relax for the first time in a long time.

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A/N: Okay, slightly cute ending, no idea where it came from, but, hey, that's what I get for typing before a big bball game. Anyway, here's your sneak peak!

_**Chapter : Two More**_

"_Danny?" Jazz asked. "What just happened? I heard you scream, and—" She gasped when she saw Danny, just waking up with a big pile of ashes in front of him. Sam walked in behind her._

"_What's up?" Sam asked, but after looking down said, "Never mind."_

_Danny sat up and shook his head, looking around. "Well, at least I'm still me," he said._

"_What happened?" Jazz asked._

"_Who was it this time?" Sam questioned quietly._

_Danny winced slightly as he replied, "The Fleetson… twins…"_

_Both Jazz and Sam looked at him in shock._

"_There were two skulls," he said quietly, preparing for the fireworks._

_Immediately, both girls screamed, "WHADDAYA MEAN, **TWO!**"_

There ya go! R & R for the next chappy! Bye, y'all!


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